It Had to Be You
by RomanticisedIllusions
Summary: When Tony and Kate have a little too much fun one night, they are left to deal with the consequences.
1. Learning the Alphabet

**Disclaimer:**** I own nothing. Do you **_**really**_** think I would have let **_**Twilight**_** happen if **_**NCIS**_** was under my control?**

**I know I said I had an idea for a new story when I finished **_**A Case of You**_**. But then my story idea was kidnapped by insecurity and self-doubt. It just seemed too over the top and out of character. I debated whether or not I should write it for ages and decided against it. Bah humbug. So I wrote this instead. Which is not over the top and out of character…not at all…**

**Enjoy!**

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"Come on, Kate!" Abby whined.

"The last time I went clubbing with you, I came home with a tattoo," Kate said, her hands firmly on her hips.

"So you're gonna stay in and spend your night drinking tea?" Abby asked, indicating to the whistling kettle in the background.

Kate shrugged, grabbing a mug from one of her kitchen cupboards.

"No offence, but that sounds a bit grandma-ish."

Kate hesitated briefly, biting her lip. Her plans _did_ sound rather unexciting. Sure, she'd enjoy spending the night with a book or movie and a cup of tea but that was how she spent most nights when she wasn't working.

Abby sensed the hesitation and pounced on Kate's moment of weakness, pulling the mug out of her hands and putting it away before Kate had the chance to make any tea.

"You need to get out, Kate. You've been so busy with work lately. It'll be fun! And I promise I'll make sure you don't get another tattoo."

"Well..."

"And you need to make the most of the time you have left to go clubbing in."

Kate raised an eyebrow and the bubbly Goth's demeanour faltered for a moment.

"Not that you're old, of course. Not even close! We're not old. Neither of us. Which is why we need to go out and have fun!"

"Okay," Kate relented, realising she'd never win the fight. And anyway, the more Abby fought the more Kate realised she wanted to go.

"Yay!" Abby squealed, clapping her hands and bouncing in glee, making her pigtails fly wildly about her face. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"Wait-I need to get changed first," Kate reminded her.

Abby's mouth dropped open in surprise, as if she couldn't believe she'd overlooked such an important matter.

"Quick!" Abby cried, grabbing her hand and running the two of them into Kate's bedroom. "Now, what's the shortest skirt or dress you own?"

---------------------------------

Kate stood anxiously in line for a club, trying to pull down the skirt of her dress so it would cover just a little bit more skin. Abby swiftly whacked Kate's hand away.

"I can't believe you talked me into wearing this," Kate muttered.

"Oh please," Abby scoffed. "You look hot! You'd better not be hiding away in a corner all night, either. We're here to have _fun_, remember?"

"Fun, of course," Kate said, folding her arms so she wouldn't be tempted to try to pull her skirt down again. It had been so long since she'd really had fun that she was having a bit of trouble remembering how to relax.

A few minutes later, Abby grabbed Kate's arm in excitement as the line moved. "Look! Look! We're nearly inside!"

A few people walking by stared at the oddity of an exuberant Goth and Kate couldn't help but giggle at how surprised they all looked. She smiled at Abby who squealed again in excitement as they finally made their way into the club.

"Let's go to the bar!"

Kate shrugged and obediently followed Abby to the large congregation at the bar.

"This enough to buy you, babe?"

Kate looked over at the guy standing next to her who was staring appreciatively into her cleavage and waving a twenty dollar note under her nose. He was just like Tony. Except far less attractive.

"I don't think so."

The guy nodded in understanding and gave her a conspiratorial smile. "Babe, for you I'd pay a million dollars."

Okay. So he was worse than Tony. Kate looked straight ahead, trying to ignore Abby's snickering and keep a straight face.

When Kate hadn't said anything for several moments, he decided to take matters into his own hands and leaned closer to her, announcing, "Hey babe, my name's Tony."

She hadn't meant to laugh, really. But the corners of her mouth twitched up irresistibly then she heard Abby snort next to her and the next thing she knew, she was laughing hysterically and Tony had stormed off, offended.

It took nearly the whole time they were waiting to order for Kate to calm down. By the time she and Abby were walking away with their drinks, she didn't even have to fight the urge to laugh anymore.

Abby turned to her and raised her glass.

"Cheers, 'babe'," Abby said with a wink and Kate burst out laughing again.

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Tony strutted into the club, pausing to scope out any potential talent. A few maybes, a few hell nos and a few definite possibilities. But first, he needed to unwind and have a drink or two. He'd had a beer and a shot before he came out but that hardly counted.

He walked over to the bar but stopped in his tracks when he noticed the backs of a tall Goth and petite brunette waiting in line. There was only one person he knew who would wear a skirt like that and pigtails that high. And the other body, he'd recognise anywhere. He just wasn't used to seeing it wrapped up in a short red dress that hung enticingly on every curve. Tilting his head slightly to the side, Tony wondered how a frontal view of the dress would look-would it be low cut enough to give justice to Kate's body? There was only one way to find out.

He walked up behind Kate and Abby, placing a hand on each of their waists. "I don't think Gibbs would approve."

Abby turned to face him with a grin and a hug but Kate was a different story. She turned around slowly and squinted at Tony, as if trying to make out who it was. She seemed to work it out a second later because she was tugging on Abby's sleeve, giggling and exclaiming, "Abby! Look! It's the _other_ Tony!"

Tony meant to ask which other Tony they knew but found himself a bit distracted. The front of Kate's dress _definitely_ did justice to her figure. It wasn't a trashy dress-a trashy Kate was a paradox-but he'd still never seen her in anything that was so low cut. If he'd known what he was missing out on, he would have taken Kate clubbing ages ago.

"And he's staring right where the _other_ Tony was staring, too!" Kate exclaimed with another giggle.

Abby took Tony's chin in her hand and moved his gaze up to her stern face. "Bad Tony. Bad _other_ Tony, too."

"Who the hell is the other Tony?" he finally asked in exasperation, although Abby's grip on his face made talking slightly difficult.

"Just some guy who hit on Kate and wouldn't take his eyes off her chest," Abby said casually, releasing Tony's face.

"Babe," Kate piped up, still giggling.

Suddenly it hit Tony. Kate should have been making him feel great pain for staring at her cleavage right now. Not giggling.

"Uh, Abs," he said, moving closer to her, "is Kate…drunk?"

"Kate likes vodka," Abby said loudly, with a shrug.

"Kate does _not_ like vodka," Kate declared. "Kate likes champagne. But vodka is okay."

Abby's eyes suddenly lit up as she spotted someone in the distance. "Look! Look! It's Sarah! I haven't seen her in _ages_!"

Abby raced across to her old friend but Kate didn't seem to notice.

"Did you know," she told Tony seriously, her eyes wide, "that _every _Friday night, for _two whole hours_, you can get drinks for _two dollars_ here? Like raspberry vodka. And lemonade and vodka. _Two dollars_! Isn't that cheap?"

"You've never been here before?" Tony asked in shock. He thought that everyone knew about the two dollar drinks deal.

"Uh uh," Kate said, shaking her head. "I don't like clubbing."

"I can tell," Tony said sarcastically.

Kate raised her wrist up to her face, trying to make out the time on her watch. Apparently, this was slightly difficult because a second later she'd dropped her wrist in defeat and grabbed Tony's instead.

"Your watch is bigger," she explained to him.

She stared intently at his watch for several seconds before shaking her head.

"What time is it?" she asked, holding his wrist up to his face to help him out.

"Eleven forty."

"_Eleven forty_?" Kate exclaimed. "But there's only twenty minutes of happy hour left! Quick! We'll have to buy _two_ drinks at a time now!"

Tony smiled as he watched Kate anxiously tap her foot, waiting for it to be her turn to order her drinks. He never thought he'd see a drunk Kate. And he was pretty sure this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Screw the potential talent he'd been scoping earlier. A night spent observing a drunk Kate would be _much_ more entertaining.

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"You know what, Kate?" Tony announced several drinks later.

"What?"

"I planned on getting drunk tonight," he told her slowly. "But not _this_ drunk."

Kate looked up at him with her mouth open and her eyes wide. "_Me too_! Isn't that crazy?"

Tony thought about that for a moment before shaking his head. "No."

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"Happy hour's finished, hasn't it?" Kate asked some time later.

"Oh yeah," Tony told her. "At _least_ an hour ago."

Kate shook her head forlornly. "I'm very sad."

"Just because it's not happy hour," Tony told her wisely, "doesn't mean it's _sad_ hour."

"I'm still very sad."

"Why's Kate sad?" Abby asked, reappearing for the first time since she'd spotted her friend.

"Because happy hour's finished," Tony said, patting Kate's shoulder in consolation.

"Let's go, then," Abby suggested, holding out her hand to Kate. "To another club!"

"I'm too sad," Kate said, shaking her head in refusal.

"I'll take care of Kate," Tony said. "You go."

Abby wasn't too sure that Tony was capable of doing that, judging by the way his breath smelled of alcohol. But on the other hand, Abby wasn't any more capable than Tony considering she was drunk herself.

"Okay," Abby decided with a shrug. "But before you do anything, just think: what would Gibbs say about that?"

"You're thinking about our boss right now?" Tony asked in confusion but Abby had already gone.

Kate looked up at Tony. "I'm still-"

"You're still sad, I know," Tony said. Even though he was drunk, he was beginning to have to repress the urge to roll his eyes.

Kate nodded.

"I know!" Tony exclaimed. "Let's have an ABC shot! That'll make you _very_ happy."

"They named a shot after the alphabet?" Kate asked with a giggle.

Tony grabbed her hand and led her to the bar. "You have a lot to learn, Kate."

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"What's in these shots again?" Kate asked, holding up the empty shot glass to her face and observing it.

"Absinthe, Bacardi and chartreuse," Tony recited happily. "It's the best shot on earth."

"We've had a few, haven't we?"

"Yep."

Kate looked like she didn't know whether she found this funny or troublesome. On the plus side, she wasn't sad anymore.

"Let's dance," she decided.

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Kate couldn't exactly remember how she and Tony wound up in the cab. But here they were in the backseat, and there the driver was in the front seat, and now they were on their way somewhere.

"Everything outside's moving," she said with a giggle, looking out her window.

"I think that's because the cab's moving," Tony said thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah," she turned and looked at him. "You're not moving."

"Neither are you."

"Do you like my dress?" she asked him, looking down at the garment. "It's very red."

"I like it a lot."

"You've been very nice tonight Tony," she told him, patting his hand. "Very nice. I'm having lots of fun."

"Me too."

She looked at him for a moment before leaning in and kissing him. He tasted like alcohol but then again, she was sure she did too.

He pulled away a few seconds later. "Kate, this is probably a bad idea."

"Probably," she said with a shrug, before pulling him back to her and kissing him again.

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Kate buried her face into her pillow the next morning as she woke up, refusing to open her eyes. For some reason, she just did not feel well that morning. Her head felt fuzzy and slightly painful, and she was desperately thirsty.

It felt like she was hung over.

Hung over…alcohol… Kate suppressed a groan as she realised that hung over was exactly what she was. She could remember hitting the vodka quite hard with Abby. Then Tony turning up. What happened after that? Kate pressed her face further into the pillow as if that would help her remember.

Suddenly, a snore came from next to her and Kate sat up with a start.

She wasn't in her bed.

She wasn't even in her room.

She wasn't wearing her clothes.

And next to her, sleeping soundly was an equally naked Tony.

"Oh, shit," Kate whispered, deciding this was definitely an occasion for profanity.

Although she didn't want to, she slowly looked around the room. Articles of hers and Tony's clothing were strewn about haphazardly.

Maybe it was a good thing she couldn't remember all of the events of last night.

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**I would like to point out that the "is this enough to buy you?" and "for you, a million dollars" line was used on me recently. Twenty dollar note and all. Except the real life guy didn't say "babe" all the time. It was still rather horrifying yet very amusing… Gotta love cheesy pick up lines! Or not.**

**Anyhow, do you think I should keep going with this story or should I kick its clichéd ass to kingdom come? I do have a plan for it which I'm sure I could make less clichéd… Sort of.**

**Help keep Tate alive and:**

**REVIEW!**

**(Pretty please.)**


	2. Cornered for Time

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the first chapter! I was a bit nervous about this story (it's not exactly the first 'Tony and Kate have a one night stand' story) but I'm glad that people seemed to enjoy it. Please keep reviewing-each one means a lot to me. :) **

**Enjoy!**

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Kate slid into the back of the taxi, breathing a sigh of relief. She'd escaped before Tony had woken up. She knew that at some stage, she'd have to confront him. But she also knew that the longer she could put it off, the better.

"Where to?" the driver asked, turning around to face Kate.

She rattled off her address before realising that he was staring at her in a strange way. The corners of his mouth were twitching upwards and he kept on looking at her dress and slightly smudged make-up. Kate self-consciously dabbed under her eyes; she thought she'd done the best job possible of removing last nights make-up in a rush.

"Doing the walk of shame, huh?" he asked her with a wink.

That was when it clicked. It was the same driver as last night. And all of a sudden, Kate wondered if maybe it would have been better to still be at Tony's place because the sight of the driver brought back memories she could really do without. She remembered kissing Tony in this very cab and Tony throwing the driver a note telling him to keep the change before the two of them hurried up to his bedroom. The worst part was, _she_ kissed _him_. She was the one to initiate it all. Kate groaned, wishing that those memories had never been recovered.

"Shouldn't your shift be over now?" she grumbled to the driver.

He chuckled and finally started driving away as Kate lay her head against the seat, closing her eyes.

What a mess.

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Tony cautiously cracked open an eye to gauge his reaction to light. The sun didn't seem too bright for his hangover so he slowly opened the other eye, too. On a scale of ten, he guessed this hangover was going to be about a six. A typical Saturday for him.

The details of last night were still a bit hazy. He remembered meeting up with Kate and Abby, being amused by Kate's drunkeness and Kate kissing him later that night in the taxi. After that, he had trouble remembering what came next. He'd woken up alone so he supposed nothing happened that shouldn't have. Apart from the kiss. But in the grand scheme of things, a kiss didn't mean much at all.

Tony yawned and stretched out in bed. As his arm spread across his bed, it brushed against something cool and metallic under the covers. His fingers clasped against the object and raised it to his face.

A watch.

A watch he'd seen on its owner's wrist just last night.

A watch he saw on its owner's wrist every day at work.

Sitting up with the watch still in his hands, Tony saw his clothes from last night strewn about his room. He let out a disbelieving laugh. This was not good.

For two years – basically ever since they'd met – he'd been trying to deny his attraction to Kate Todd. He'd tell himself that sure, she was beautiful but they'd never work. She was too conservative for him, too straight-laced. She'd never go for him and he was willing to bet she thought _he_ would never go for _her_. Yet he still found himself standing just a fraction too close to her at work, hoping for even the smallest amount of physical contact. He still found himself looking forward to seeing her each morning at work more than he should. He still found her slipping into his dreams, in ways that would make Gibbs slap him on the head and make Kate simultaneously blush and kill him.

He'd given it up as a hopeless cause yet here he was, grasping her watch and remembering vividly the details of last night. He could remember it all now, from the two of them racing up to his room to Kate falling asleep in his arms.

Tony stared at the watch in his hand, his fingers running along each link and up the face.

What happened now?

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Kate lay down on her couch gripping onto a mug of coffee. She'd taken a shower and some pain killers but this was still the worst hangover she'd had in a long, long time. She closed her eyes, contemplating never touching alcohol again for the rest of her life when her phone started ringing. Kate groaned and decided to let the answering machine pick it up, praying it wasn't Tony. Her headache was only just starting to fade and she was certain Tony would only bring it right back.

"Kate?" Abby's slightly panicky voice came over her answering machine. "This is the _fourth_ message I've left today!"

Kate sat up and stared at the machine. Sure enough, that little red light was flashing away.

"I'm starting to worry, Kate! Are you even there? You didn't go wandering after I left you and Tony, did you? Because I know that some people just wander off when they're drunk and I _really_ hope you're not one of those people. I'm going to _kill_ Tony if he let you wander off like that. I mean, I know he can be a little irresponsible sometimes but I didn't think he'd let _that_ happen. Wait...you're not _at _Tony's are you?"

Abby paused as this new idea dawned on her and Kate squeezed her eyes shut again, hoping that Abby would just let it be.

"Um...okay then. I hope you're having...fun...with Tony. I'm not really surprised, you know. I always thought there was something between the two of you."

Kate grabbed the phone, unable to handle it anymore. The thought of Abby leaving her anymore messages like _this _one was unbearable.

"Abby, I'm here, okay?" Kate snapped, feeling slightly bad at how angry she sounded. "I'm just...really hungover. So if you don't mind, I'd like to spend the rest of the day in the dark and in silence."

"Okay," Abby said, sounding slightly taken aback. She paused as if debating whether or not she should say what was on her mind. When she spoke again her voice was back to sounding bubbly and playful. "Hope you and Tony had a good night. I'll see you at work!"

Kate opened her mouth to respond but Abby had already hung up.

She put the phone back and clutched onto her coffee for dear life.

Suddenly, work seemed like the worst place in the world.

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"Kate!" Abby cried on Monday morning, bouncing over and giving her a hug. Kate had arrived at work early and headed straight for Abby's lab.

"Abby-" Kate began when the hug finally ended but she was cut off.

"You have to tell me _everything_!"

"About what?"

"Oh come on, Kate. Don't play innocent with me! Do you know how much I thought about this over the weekend?"

"That's a little strange," Kate said, taking a step back.

"Isn't that why you're here?" Abby asked, her eyes shining in anticipation. "To tell me all of the juicy details?"

"No, actually. I'm here to beg you not to tell anyone. _Especially_ not Gibbs."

"Like I would," Abby said. "Your secret's safe with me, Kate! I promise. Which means you can tell me _everything_!"

"Abby."

"You slept with him right?"

"No," Kate said firmly. "_Drunken_ Kate did that. We're two different people."

"Who've wanted the same thing for the past two years."

"What are you talking about?"

Abby rolled her eyes. "I've noticed all of the sexual tension between you guys. You can't pretend it's not there. Now tell me; what was it like?"

"I can't remember. And even if I could, it's _private_."

"You can't remember?" Abby asked, her mouth hanging open.

"Thank God."

"You _can't_ re_mem_ber?" Abby cried out, looking frustrated.

"Why are _you_ disappointed about that?"

"Because I've had to listen to Tony bragging and bragging about how good he is in bed for _years_. And now I finally get the opportunity to find out if any of it's true and _you can't remember_!"

"Some people – myself included – would actually find that memory loss a good thing, you know."

"Maybe you're not trying hard enough," Abby pouted. "I don't care what you say, Kate. Tonight after work, we're going to try to get that memory back."

Kate took a step backwards, not wanting to think about the methods Abby would use to recover a memory. "Actually, I can't. I'm busy tonight."

"No, no you're not!" Abby protested. "The only thing you're doing is getting that memory back. I can't believe you don't remember it, Kate!"

"What doesn't Kate remember?"

Kate and Abby both jumped and turned around to see Gibbs. Kate was sure her face had just paled by several shades. She was dead. She felt like a teenager who'd just been caught by the principal.

"Who won _American Idol_," Abby piped up.

Gibbs looked at each of them with suspicion as Kate tried to look as innocent as possible, wondering how long this scrutiny was going to go on for.

"Kate," Gibbs finally barked. "Desk. Now."

"Yes, Gibbs," Kate said, already half way to the door.

She anxiously waited for the lift, wondering if the day could get any worse.

It could.

She stood frozen to the spot as the doors opened to reveal Tony. A smile spread on his face as he saw Kate in front of him and he greeted her with a cheerful, "Good morning, Katie!"

"I'm going to take the stairs," Kate mumbled. She tried to turn around to escape but Tony grabbed her arm and pulled her into the lift with him.

She sulked in the corner, deliberately not looking at him until he hit the emergency stop button.

"Hey!" Kate protested as the lift halted to a stop.

Tony took a step towards her and Kate instinctively tried to take a step back before realising she was already squashed in the corner.

"So," Tony said conversationally, "did you have a good weekend?"

Anger flared up in Kate and she took a step closer to Tony and lifted up her face to look at his.

"I swear to God, Tony," Kate said quietly, "if you tell anyone – _anyone_ – what happened on Friday night, I will-"

"Relax, Kate," Tony told her. "I was just going to tell you that I won't tell anyone. I won't tell Probie. I won't even tell Abby."

Kate bit her lip and gave Tony a guilty look.

"Abby knows?" Tony guessed.

Kate nodded. "She sort of guessed after she'd left four messages on my phone."

Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"She promised me she won't tell anyone, though," Kate assured him.

"Well, as long as Gibbs doesn't find out, right?"

"Right," Kate agreed.

Tony took a step towards the emergency stop button and Kate frowned. That was it? That was all he wanted to say to her? That he wouldn't tell anyone? She knew that he had one night stands all of the time but she didn't. Before that damn night, she'd _never_ had a one night stand. And she knew she couldn't expect much from Tony but she'd somehow expected just a bit _more_. More teasing or more tenderness towards her. More..._something_. Anything.

One minutes talk and now it was like it had never happened. Wasn't that how she wanted it to be, though? So why did a part of her feel upset?

"Actually," Tony said, turning around just before he was about to hit the button.

He walked towards Kate, a playful glint in his eyes, as she backed herself into the corner again.

"Can you tell me the time, Katie?"

Kate's mouth dropped open in surprise as he stopped right in front of her, not more than an inch or two of space between them.

"I left my watch at _your_ place," she realised. "Not the club."

Tony smiled and Kate sighed.

"Can I have it back, please?"

"Sure," Tony agreed. "There's just one condition."

"Blackmail," Kate muttered. "Nice touch."

Tony placed his hands on the wall of the lift, just above Kate's shoulders and leaned in just a fraction closer to her.

"I'll give you your watch back when you go on a date with me."

Kate looked up at Tony in surprise. They were so close she could feel the heat radiating from his chest and she could smell the cologne he'd put on that morning.

"What?"

"Go on a date with me, Kate," Tony said, leaning in closer again. "Or get yourself a new watch. What will it be?"

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**So, will Kate agree to go on a date with Tony? Or will she head out to the shops and buy a new watch?**

**There's only one way to find out:**

**REVIEW!**

**(Pretty please with a cherry on top.)**


	3. It's in the Stars

**Yikes!! I am so, so sorry it took me so long to update. My life got a bit crazy, my health sort of disappeared for a bit and now I'm experiencing the joys of Vitamin B12 injections and iron tablets. Yay? But on the plus side, I'm actually feeling like myself again which makes for a nice change.**

**Thank you to all my wonderful, wonderful reviewers and once again, I'm sorry it took so long to get this up! But here it is.**

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"Ready for our big date tomorrow night, Katie?"

Kate jumped at the voice that had sneaked up behind her in the middle of taking a picture of the crime scene.

"Of course," she said, rolling her eyes. "I bet it'll turn out as well as this picture you just ruined."

"Well, if you're determined to be miserable, I guess I'll just have to buy you a few vodkas," Tony said before adding in an undertone, "We know how well that works with you."

Kate furiously whirled around to face him, grabbing the collar of his shirt to pull him down to her level.

"_Never_ mention that night," she growled. "_Especially_ not at work. Got it?"

"Okay, okay," Tony relented, rubbing his neck as Kate released him. "I guess I'll just have to find other ways to get you to passionately grab me."

"I swear to God, Tony, I am _this close_ to cancelling tomorrow night."

"Okay," Tony said, holding his hands up in defeat. "I promise I'll behave."

Kate shot him a look that was halfway between disbelief and a glare before returning to her photos. No sooner had she taken another photo than she felt fingertips brushing against her waist as Tony whispered in her ear, "You look very cute when you're angry, by the way."

She froze for a moment and by the time she turned around to retaliate, he was already walking away. Kate started frantically snapping away, annoyed at how easily he'd been able to distract her. What she disliked even more than that, though, was the fact that she could point out the precise spot Tony's fingers had rested on her waist because her skin was still tingling from his touch.

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Kate fastened her earring, trying desperately not to look at herself in the mirror. She'd already changed her outfit numerous times and had fussed over her make-up for at least double the amount of time she normally did, and she still wasn't satisfied. She got the feeling that nothing would be good enough for tonight and, seeing as Tony was due in five minutes, she didn't have the time to find anything else wrong with how she looked or what she was wearing.

Grabbing her handbag from her bed, Kate marched out to her living room and sat down on the couch, her hands firmly clasping her bag. This was ridiculous, she thought, a small, amused smile appearing on her lips. She couldn't believe how much she was fretting about a date with Tony. She'd spent the week teasing him mercilessly but she couldn't help the breathless sensation that came over her when she remembered him cornering her in the elevator or the somersaults her stomach performed when she remembered the feeling of Tony's hand on her waist yesterday.

It was just Tony. The person she'd worked alongside for the past couple of a years, who didn't hesitate in vividly describing his sexual encounters with her, who didn't bother with social etiquette around her. And somehow...the past week had seemed to suggest to her that there was a whole other side, another dimension to her relationship with him. And she had no idea what to do about it all.

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Tony pulled up outside Kate's place and took a deep breath. He wasn't used to feeling nervous before a date but there was no other way to describe how he felt. His heart was racing, his hands were clammy and – worst of all – he felt completely inadequate. Kate would probably spend the night wishing she was with anyone but him and he couldn't deny that she deserved more than a womaniser whose greatest talent was his ability to draw parallels between any situation and a movie.

A chuckle escaped from Tony's lips and he ran his hands through his hair. There was more to him than that. Of course there was. But Kate was the most accomplished person he'd ever gone on a date with. And he'd only got this date through what was effectively blackmail. He'd spent the week looking forward to tonight and bickering with Kate _slightly_ more than ususal, but now that he was here...

Mustering all his self-confidence, Tony got out of his car and started walking. He was going to give Kate a night she'd never forget. And he was _not_ going to let her see how nervous she was making him.

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"Wow... you look... wow," Tony stammered as Kate opened her door to greet him, immediately feeling like slapping himself on the back of his head. What was it he'd said about not showing Kate how nervous he was? But then she'd opened her door with her hair loosely curled, wearing a simple but elegant black dress and everything he'd been thinking before had vanished from his mind.

"Thanks," she said quietly, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. "So, where are we going?"

"Come and see," Tony told her. She shut the door behind her and followed Tony out to his car in silence. She wanted to say something to him but her throat felt terribly dry and she was worried she'd choke on her words. Besides, she had the strangest feeling that if she opened her mouth a tirade of babble would escape. So she kept her mouth shut and walked to the passenger seat door.

"You won't be needing to go in the car," Tony told her as he opened the door to the backseat.

"Why's that?" Kate asked, walking around to him.

Tony held up a picnic basket and flashed her a smile.

"I noticed there was a park around the corner here," Tony said. "I thought that would be a good place."

"Isn't it a bit … dark for a picnic?"

"That's the best time to have them," Tony said, locking his car. "Come on."

He held his hand out to her and Kate hesitated for a moment before taking it. In the past week, she'd come to view Tony's touch in a different way. And as her hand slipped perfectly into his own, she was reminded of why this was: the warmth that coursed through her body, the feeling that nothing bad could happen while they were together like this – as though he had some sort of protective shield that enveloped her. She couldn't remember the last time someone had made her feel this way and it frightened her to think of the feelings she was undoubtedly developing for Tony.

There were times in his life when Tony would have given anything for Kate to shut up for just one minute. Now, as they were walking along in silence, he would've given anything for Kate to be unable to shut up. He stole a few glances at her – her head slightly ducked down, hair blowing in the gentle breeze – and he felt more nervous than he had driving to her place. What was going on in her mind? Was she unimpressed with the fact that their date was a picnic? Should he have done something else, something more? She hadn't let go of his hand which he took to be a good sign. The _only_ good sign he could find so far in the whole evening.

"You know, I think I went through my whole wardrobe trying to figure out what to wear tonight," Kate said suddenly, breaking through the silence, knowing the the nerves would overwhelm her if she didn't start talking soon. "If I'd've known we were going to a park, I would've just thrown on some jeans and a top. I would've saved a lot of time."

Tony looked over at her, worried for a moment that she was annoyed but the smile on her face instantly put him at ease.

"I prefer the dress," Tony told her. "Much more appropriate for a picnic at night."

"You mean I can expect more than just beer and ham sandwiches?" Kate asked playfully, nudging him with her shoulder.

"I mean you can expect more than just food and drink," Tony said, flashing her a smile as they entered the park.

"Trust you, Tony," Kate said with a roll of her eyes.

"Let's sit here," Tony said when they reached a spot in the park that was far enough away from the street for some privacy but close enough that they weren't shrouded in darkness.

Kate stood back, watching Tony as he lay out the picnic blanket. Her eyes travelled along the contours of his face and body, noticing each movement he made. In some ways, it was as if she was staring at a stranger who'd suddenly entered her life, completely changing her feelings and views on things. It managed to confuse, terrify and excite her all at the same time.

"What is it?" Tony asked, sitting on the blanket and noticing Kate staring at him.

"Nothing," Kate said quickly, sitting down next to him and shifting her gaze to the pattern on the blanket. She could feel her cheeks growing warmer from the embarrassment of being caught and prayed that the moonlight hid the undoubtable blush from Tony.

"Ready for your beer and ham sandwiches?" Tony asked teasingly, opening the basket.

"I'm starving, actually," she admitted. "So I'd even settle for that."

Tony took out the food and Kate didn't need a brightly lit room to tell that he'd packed more than just some ham slapped on stale bread.

"Gourmet sandwiches from a place close to my home and a selection of salads," Tony said proudly.

"Wow, Tony," Kate said in surprise. "This looks really nice!"

"And it's not a picnic without champagne. One bottle of this is _much_ safer than vodka."

"This is really lovely, Tony," Kate told him as he poured the champagne. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Tony said with a smile, handing her a glass. Her fingers brushed against his as she took it from him and suddenly it felt to her like the rest of the world had disappeared, leaving just the two of them behind. Taking a sip of her champagne, Kate tried to ignore the fact that the last time she'd felt like that was back when she was a giddy, lovesick teenager.

They bickered and bantered their way through the food and the bottle of champagne, the silence and nerves that had troubled them before disappearing for the time being. Apart from the odd late night wanderer, they mostly had the park completely to themselves and were free to laugh and talk as loudly as they liked.

"For a small woman, you sure can eat a lot," Tony told her as he finished packing up the basket.

"I was hungry!" Kate said defensively. "And you ate more."

"Well, I was hungry too," he said with a shrug and a smile before lying down on the blanket. A few seconds later, Kate felt his hand grab onto her arm and gently pull her down. "Lie next to me."

Kate lay next to him, their shoulders touching and his fingers intertwined with hers. The tingles and butterflies she'd felt before on a couple of occasions, but she'd never been with anyone who made her feel safe and secure like Tony did. Neither of these were feelings she'd ever really expected Tony to awake in her.

"Do you know any constellations?" he asked her suddenly, wanting any excuse to keep Kate there, right next to him, for as long as possible.

"Not really," she admitted, looking up at the few stars that were twinkling through the smog.

"Neither do I. But there's a group of them over there that looks like a cup of coffee. It's like Gibbs' constellation."

Kate looked to where Tony was pointing and scrunched up her nose. "They just look like a cluster of stars to me."

"You have to use your _imagination_, Kate," Tony said, squeezing her hand.

"That group sort of looks like a pipe," Kate said after examining the sky for a few moments. "Like the kind McGee uses when he writes."

"And that looks like the piano they played in _Casablanca_."

Kate started laughing as she looked at the stars in the direction Tony had pointed at. He turned and watched her giggle; examining the way her lips curved into a wide smile and the upwards tilt of her head as she lost herself to laughter.

"There is _nothing_ that looks like a piano there, Tony," she said, examining the alleged piano again. "I think you've used your imagination too much there."

She turned her head to look at him, the smile on her lips falling away as she saw the look on Tony's face. She barely had time to realise there were butterflies wildly beating in her stomach before their lips found each other, his arm slipping around her waist to pull her closer to him. All of the fears and concerns Kate had about falling for Tony disappeared at once and she even found herself contemplating the possibility that her drunken self had actually made an okay choice.

They stayed like that for awhile: lying side by side, alternating between talking and kissing. Eventually, they dragged themselves away from the stars and the park, walking slowly back to Kate's place.

"Thank you so much for tonight, Tony," Kate said when they got to her door. "I had a wonderful time."

"I almost forgot," Tony said suddenly, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out Kate's watch and put it on her wrist. "The other half of the deal."

Kate stared at the cold metal on her wrist, a sickening feeling enveloping her. The way Tony had said it sounded so final and she found herself terrified that this was it. Her other hand started playing with the clasp on her watch in a bid to distract herself.

A finger slipped under her chin, lifting her head up to look at him.

"Can we do this again, Kate?" Tony asked her, his face completely serious.

"Yes," she said quietly, relief crashing through her. "Please."

They smiled at each other for a moment before Tony took her in his arms and gave her the final kiss of the night.

---------------------------------------

**By the way; anyone who hasn't had a champagne picnic (at night, of course) is sorely missing out. You don't even need food and a Tony – just champagne and a friend or two. It's even better if the friend can give you a piggyback and help you up when you face plant in the grass after running down a hill. And if there's another friend who'll find your oh so elegant face plant just as hilarious as you do. Champagne picnics are awesome. Trust me.**

**Anyhow, since it's been so long since the last update, is it worth me continuing? It definitely won't be a matter of months between updates anymore but are enough people still interested? Let me know and:**

**REVIEW!**

**(Pretty please.)**


	4. Paper Planes

**No, you're not hallucinating: I have actually updated. I am so sorry it took me (yikes!) almost four months, especially after promising a speedy update in the last chapter. But I actually do promise to update much, _much_ sooner next time and whoever wants to hold me to it can. So I expect plenty of abuse if I haven't updated in, say, three weeks. Don't forget!**

**As always, thank you thank you thank you to my wonderful reviewers. I hope you're all still out there...**

* * *

It had taken all of Tony's self-control not to show up on Kate's doorstep the next day. Instead, he'd spent his Sunday doing anything and everything to get Kate off his mind – unsuccessfully. He hadn't expected her to get under his skin but somehow she'd worked her way so far in that not even twelve hours since their date ended, he was desperate to see her again. By the time Tony went to bed on Sunday night, the desperation still hadn't diminished and for the first time he could remember, he was actually looking forward to a Monday morning.

Here he was, thinking about just one woman and looking forward to a Monday. What had Kate done to him?

* * *

Kate was certain she was hallucinating when she walked into work the next morning. She thought she'd arrived early; it was like she'd had a caffeine overdose that morning the way she jumped out of bed and got ready for work in record time, excited at the thought of seeing Tony again. But there he was already; wide awake, sitting at his desk and looking up at her with a smile.

"Good morning Katie!" he greeted her cheerfully. "Have a good weekend?"

"Very," Kate said casually, settling into her desk. "I had a date Saturday night."

"You had a date Saturday night?"

Kate jumped slightly at the intrusion, looking up to see McGee sitting down at his desk. Kate gaped at him for several seconds, hoping the situation that might unfold would somehow be diverted.

It wasn't.

"Where did you go?" McGee pressed and Kate could feel her body sinking as she let out a deep breath.

"He took me on a picnic," she said quickly, desperate to change the subject.

"You know, Kate," Tony said casually, leaning back in his chair and smiling wickedly at her, "normally I don't approve of the guys you date. Like that Dwayne guy, for instance. But I think I like the sound of this one."

"Oh yeah? What else have you heard about him?" McGee asked Tony.

"Kate told me he's incredibly handsome, really smart, thoughtful, witty, athletic..."

"Wow, it sounds like you're quite serious about him," McGee said looking at Kate.

Tony gave her a wink and she fought the urge to glare at him. He was enjoying this way too much. She shot him a sweet smile and turned her gaze to McGee.

"The only downside was that his breath was really bad," Kate said with a sigh, noticing with pleasure that Tony's evil grin was faltering.

"I guess that means you're not hoping for another date with him?" McGee asked, looking slightly confused.

"Actually I am," Kate said, avoiding Tony's gaze because she knew she'd blush if she looked at him. "I hope he asks me out again really soon."

* * *

It was two hours later while doing paperwork that Kate was attacked by a paper plane. She'd been focusing on the work in front of her when she suddenly felt something brush against her head and flop onto her desk. There was only one person she knew who was juvenile enough to do something like that.

Kate looked across at Tony with her eyebrows raised and he responded with a big smile. He looked around to make sure no one was watching them and mouthed the words _"open it" _to her.

Opening the plane, Kate saw Tony's handwriting scrawled across the inside of it.

_Dinner this Friday after work?_

Kate couldn't help but smile. A couple of days ago, they were sharing a romantic dinner in a park – today, he was asking her out with a paper plane. So far, dating Tony had been a cross between feeling like they were starting something that could become serious and feeling like she was right back in high school. And she had to admit that she didn't mind that mix at all.

Kate hastily wrote back a _"yes"_ and made sure the coast was clear for the planes next trip before take off. Tony watched as the plane missed its target and landed just in front of his desk. Kate gave an apologetic shrug before Tony got out of his seat to retrieve it and she returned to her work.

Tony was the only one who noticed a hint of a smile playing on her lips for the rest of the day.

* * *

On Tuesday, Tony and Kate escaped to a local cafe for their lunchbreak. Finally getting some time alone for the first time since their date on Saturday, they were both in high spirits. Everything seemed funny, everything seemed just that much better than it normally was. Tony stole some food from Kate who slapped his leg in retaliation. Just as Tony was about to grab Kate's retreating hand, a voice sounded from behind them.

"Tony! Caitlin! This is a pleasant surprise."

Ducky seated himself at their table, smiling happily at his colleagues. Completely oblivious to what he'd just interrupted, Ducky starting recounting his history with the cafe in great detail as Tony and Kate said goodbye to their alone time.

* * *

On Wednesday, Tony got to work early and waited for Kate at the entrance to the building.

"What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously as she walked in and noticed him loitering around.

"I thought we could catch the lift together."

Kate tried to hide a smile as they walked into the empty lift. As soon as it started moving Tony hit the emergency stop button.

"I'm having flashbacks to when you blackmailed me," Kate said playfully as Tony closed the distance between them.

"I think we're way past blackmail now," Tony said, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her.

Kate pulled away after a minute with a sigh. "Other people might be needing to use this lift."

"I suppose so," Tony said, reluctantly re-starting the lift.

Tony and Kate walked to their desks without looking at each other, trying to be as inconspicuous as they could. McGee greeted them from his own desk before staring at Tony.

"Hey Tony, have you got anything from last night to tell us?"

"No, why?" Tony asked with an annoyed glance at McGee.

"It's just that someone's lipstick has rubbed off on you. Can you see it, Kate?"

McGee turned to Kate, his face filling with surprise as he matched up the colour of Kate's lipstick to the lipstick on Tony's face.

"Uh, never mind," McGee said quickly, as Tony raced to the bathroom to clean his face and Kate immersed herself in tidying up her desk.

* * *

On Thursday, Kate and Tony didn't take any chances.

Kate didn't wear any lipstick to work.

Tony didn't wait for her in the morning.

They didn't go out to lunch.

And they were both slowly going crazy.

* * *

"I think I'm becoming paranoid," Kate announced to Tony the next night. Kate had invited him into her apartment for a drink after dinner and they were sitting on her couch, Kate's feet resting in Tony's lap as they sipped their red wine.

"Because...?"

"Because the entire time at the restaurant tonight, I kept expecting Ducky to come crash our dinner or McGee to drop into your place later and smell my perfume on you or something."

"I kept thinking Gibbs was behind me every time I held your hand at the table," Tony said with a shrug.

"See! We're paranoid!"

"We're not doing a very good job of being stealth," Tony said with a laugh. "Seeing as both Abby and McGee know now."

Kate groaned at the reminder and took another sip of her wine.

"Well, what do you want to do about it?" Tony asked, rubbing her leg.

"I don't know. I feel like we're only safe from being caught here and at your place."

"Whenever you want to spend the night at my place, just say the word. Of course, I'm just as happy to stay here."

"I think we should just be as careful as we can at work," Kate said.

"Meaning no lipstick?"

"Meaning we stick to work at work and _this_ sort of thing on our time off," Kate said, setting down her empty wine glass.

"So no sitting with your feet in my lap while we're on the job?"

Kate shook her head.

Tony leaned towards her and swept his lips across hers.

"What about that?"

"Definitely not," Kate said, linking her arms around his neck. "But stop doing that now and I _will _find a way to shoot you at work."

Tony smiled before kissing her again.

* * *

Shortly after they'd finalised what was and was not acceptable behaviour at work, Kate went into the kitchen to get some more wine. Tony, looking around Kate's living room, fixed his gaze on a cluster of photographs on display.

Walking up to them, it was clear it was a collection of old and new photos: Kate as a kid with her family, Kate as a teenager with friends and a mixture of friends, family and Kate from the present. He studied all of the photos intently, realising just how much he didn't know about Kate. Sure, he knew things like she was the youngest of five kids and had won a wet t-shirt contest back in college. But he didn't know if she'd had a happy childhood or how wild she ever was as a teen or even what her hopes and dreams were now. Normally that detail didn't matter to Tony. But there was something about Kate that made him want to know everything about her, to fill in whatever blanks he could find.

"Here you go," Kate said, breaking Tony's thoughts as she gave him his glass.

"Did you have a happy childhood, Kate?" Tony blurted out.

"Sure," Kate said, with a puzzled look on her face.

"Tell me about it," Tony said, taking her hand.

"I've told you about it before."

"Yeah, yeah; you grew up the youngest of five kids. You knew every trick in the book so you pretty much got your way the whole time. I know the _basics_."

"There's nothing else to say about it, really," Kate said with a shrug.

"What about when you were a teenager, then? How wild were you?"

"I think you've had too much to drink," Kate chuckled.

"No, I'm serious. There's so much I don't know about you, Kate!"

"And I'm sure there's a lot I don't know about you."

"Let's fix that up, then," Tony decided.

"What, you want us to sit on the couch and exchange our life stories?"

"Sure."

"I don't work that way, Tony," Kate said, pulling her hand out of his. "I don't reveal all the details of my life in a casual conversation."

"You don't reveal _any_ details of your life, I know. I sit there at work every day chatting about what I did last night and the only things I find out about you tend to be by accident."

"That's _you_!" Kate cried out, frustration rising in her voice. "I actually _like_ to have a private life."

"So, what? You're not going to let me in at all?"

"We've been on two dates, Tony. These things take time."

"Three," Tony corrected her.

"That night at the club does not count."

"And we've known each other for two years, anyway. You should know me well enough by now to let me in even just a little bit."

Kate stormed off into her kitchen, Tony several seconds behind her. She was leaning against the counter and looking down at her feet. Tony sighed and took a few steps towards her.

"Why are you so afraid to let people in?" he asked her quietly.

"It's not that I don't trust you, Tony. I do. But even when I trust someone, it takes awhile to let them in. It's just who I am … and I don't want to get hurt."

Tony put his hand under her chin and raised her face until she was looking in his eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere," he told her. "And I'll try not to pry. But can you at least try to let me in?"

Kate nodded and Tony cupped her cheeks in his hands.

"And I'll try my hardest never to hurt you."

Tony stroked her cheeks with his thumbs and hesitated for several moments before opening his mouth again.

"I think I'm falling in love with you, Kate."

* * *

**Apologies for this chapter. I wrote the first half of it almost a month ago now. And the other half this week. So sorry if it seems disjointed. And I swear I've been suffering from writer's block for the past few months so I'm sorry about that, too. Hopefully by the time I put the next chapter up I'll be back into the swing of things. **

**Actually,maybe I should just blame the heat here for all of my problems. I hate summer. It was so hot yesterday that by the time I got back home that night, I turned my air conditioner on as cool as it would go and stood under it for ages. It worked quite well, you know.**

**Once again: sorry sorry sorry for lack of updating-ness! And please don't forget to send a torrent of abuse my way if I haven't updated in three weeks, okay? **

**Make a melting person forget about the heat and:**

**REVIEW!**

**(Pretty pretty please.)**

**(If you're still out there.)**

**(Which I most definitely hope you are.)**

**(And happy new year!)**


	5. Celebrating Secrets

**Okay. I take full responsibility for being terrible when it comes to the promises I make with updates. There I was saying I'd update in three weeks and then nothing happens for three months! Whenever I saw the number of people who have this story on alert or in their favourites I'd have a massive guilt attack. I think I should stop with the promises and see if that speeds things up any… And since I turned twenty after my last update, I am no longer in my teens which means I should be all grown up now. Which explains why I recently acquired a new soft toy. But come on, it's a cow you can heat up in the microwave! (And it's so soft and cuddly!)**

**Anyhow, I am very very sorry I once again went a MASSIVE time between updates! And once again, the BIGGEST thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. As always, I hope you're all still there after the crazily long time between updates. **

* * *

Both Kate and Tony found it highly suspicious that Abby decided to have a party shortly after she and McGee had discovered that their colleagues had broken Rule 12. The gaudy invitation was the first thing Kate saw when she reached her desk on Monday morning. The glitter and bright colours were too much to deal with so early in the day so Kate reached for her coffee.

"Did you get an invitation from Abby?" Tony asked Kate as he walked to her desk.

Kate nodded and pointed at the invitation lying in front of her as she put her coffee down.

"Yep. That's the one I meant," Tony said, recoiling from the colours and glitter. "Only Abby would be up to sending something like that on a Monday morning."

"What's the betting she and McGee are going to use this party to find out what they can about us?"

"Pretty high."

Kate stuffed the invitation back in the envelope as Tony reached for her coffee and had a sip.

"Hey!" Kate cried out, seeing Tony with her coffee.

"What?"

"That's my coffee!"

"Sorry," Tony said, sounding anything but as he put the drink down.

"How much did you have?" Kate grumbled.

"Just a sip."

Kate picked up the considerably lighter cup and gave him a glare.

"Okay, maybe more like three sips."

"You owe me a coffee."

"Come on, Kate – you've still got some left."

"It's Monday morning. 'Some' coffee isn't enough."

Tony stared at Kate's scowl and the anger flashing in her eyes for a second before deciding it wasn't worth the risk.

"Fine," Tony said, as he headed towards the exit.

"And no sugar!"

* * *

"I _told_ you they'd arrive together!" Abby exclaimed, turning to McGee. "That's ten dollars you owe me."

"Um…where are the other people, Abby?" Kate asked as she glanced around the empty place.

"What other people?" Abby asked.

"You said this was a party."

"It is," Abby told her. "There's music, food, drinks. And the four of us."

Kate glanced up at Tony as it dawned on the both of them.

"This was an ambush," Tony said.

Abby cheerfully pushed him and Kate towards the table with food and drinks as McGee handed each of them a glass filled with a suspicious smelling punch.

Kate awkwardly drummed her fingers against her glass and glanced around at each person. Tony was sniffing his drink, looking as though he was having an internal debate about whether or not to try it. Abby kept looking excitedly from Kate to Tony to McGee and McGee seemed rather self-assured for once, as he sat down and sipped on punch. Everyone was silent.

Fed up with shifting her weight from one foot to the other, Kate followed McGee's suit and sat down. Tony gave in and started drinking the punch. And Abby let out a joyful, "I _knew_ it!"

"What?" Kate asked.

"Oh, come on, Kate – you and Tony. Tony and you. I knew all along it would happen! I mean, I was a bit disappointed after the whole clubbing thing when everything seemed to go back to normal but then McGee told me about the lipstick incident!"

"I knew you couldn't be trusted with a secret, Probie!" Tony exclaimed.

"You never told me it was a secret," McGee pointed out.

Tony opened his mouth to respond but Abby swiftly clamped her hand over it. "This is my party and there will be no arguing here! And don't you guys feel a bit bad not telling us, when we're supposed to be friends?"

"Not really," Tony said the instant Abby released his mouth.

"It's all very new, Abby," Kate explained. "We want to be careful."

Abby snorted. "It's not new to us," she said, gesturing towards McGee. "We've been placing bets for the past year about when you'll get together."

"I thought it would have happened months ago," McGee declared. "But Abby thought it would take a natural disaster, a serious injury or a lot of alcohol – whatever came first."

"Wait – Abby, did you set up that night at the club? Did you tell Tony to come?" Kate asked.

"Nope," Abby said happily. "That was just the work of God."

Tony sat down next to Kate and started drinking her untouched punch.

"Anyway," Abby said, deciding they'd had enough time to digest the information, "now that it's finally happened, I figured a celebration was needed!"

"So, this is a party for … us?" Tony asked.

"And McGee and me!" Abby exclaimed. "Since we were right about you two."

"I had to get the food and make the punch because Abby was right about how you'd get together," McGee explained.

Tony looked more closely at his second cup of punch and slowly set it down. "So that's why it tasted funky."

"It's a family recipe!" McGee protested. "And it's non-alcoholic!"

"Only school dances go for the non-alcoholic punch thing," Tony said.

"_You_ didn't seem to mind it," McGee pointed out.

"Actually, it's not really non-alcoholic anymore," Abby confessed. "I laced it with some white wine when you left the room."

Tony happily resumed drinking the punch as Abby and McGee started to argue about the wine. Kate placed her head on Tony's shoulder and he pulled her closer.

"Tired?" he asked her.

"More surprised that we're not the ones bickering over there," she told him.

"You're right," Tony said in shock. "Does that mean we're the _functional_ couple?"

Kate kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair. "For the moment, at least."

* * *

"So," Abby said several hours later, "you do realise you both owe us big time, don't you?"

"Why?" Kate asked surprised.

"For keeping the fact that you two have broken Rule 12 a secret from Gibbs."

"It is a pretty big secret to keep, you know," McGee agreed. "I think we deserve some compensation."

"What do you think about making them our slaves for life?" Abby asked him playfully.

"No way!" Tony said. "Think of all we've done for you!"

"Calling me Probie?" McGee asked. "Sending me into poison ivy?"

"Everybody gives the probie a hard time," Tony said. "It sets them up for life."

"I think we're going to have to stoop to their level to make this work, Tony," Kate said with a mock serious expression. "I'm sure we have plenty of secrets about them we've been keeping from Gibbs."

The rest of the night was spent arguing about whether Kate and Tony knew enough about McGee and Abby to not owe them anything for keeping the secret until the four of them finally decided to call it even. And as Tony drove her home, Kate found herself grateful to have people who knew that she and Tony were together and supported it. At some point, if things kept going as well as they were now, Gibbs would have to be told.

But not yet.

* * *

Somehow, a month passed. Kate was sprawled across Tony's couch one Friday night, her feet in his lap, when he pointed out that it had been a whole month since their drunken tryst.

"My God, it has," Kate said, looking up at him in surprise. Being with Tony was like a strange combination of the old and the new: sometimes he was the same annoying DiNozzo he'd been for the past two years and then he'd touch her or do something romantically thoughtful, and she'd be facing a wonderful stranger. Sometimes it felt to Kate as though they had always been together. At other times, she could swear that no more than a fortnight had passed.

"I think we should celebrate," Tony decided, swinging Kate's feet off his legs and getting up.

"We're celebrating a night of inebriation?" Kate asked sceptically, refusing to get up off the couch.

"Well, yeah – I've never had such good results from my drunken decisions," Tony said, kneeling down to Kate and kissing her.

"Me neither," Kate said with a smile, before stifling a yawn. "Your idea of celebrating doesn't require energy, does it?"

"Nope. You can stay right there on the couch," Tony said, walking into his kitchen.

Kate yawned again, closing her eyes. It had been such a busy week at work – she was surprised she and Tony had ended up with their Friday night to themselves – and her whole body seemed to be crying out for sleep. She didn't know what was more annoying: how tired she was or how full of energy Tony seemed to be.

Hearing the sound of a glass being set on the table next to her, Kate opened her eyes to see Tony brandishing a bottle in front of her, with a big smile on his face.

"Vodka?" Kate yelped, sitting up to put more distance between herself and the bottle.

"Of course," Tony said, pouring it in the two glasses he'd put on the table. "It's the best symbol of how we began."

Kate hesitantly accepted the glass Tony offered her.

"To us making great decisions when we're drunk," Tony said, raising his glass.

"To not having such a bad hangover ever again," Kate said, raising her glass to Tony's.

Tony downed his shot in an instant but Kate paused cautiously before swallowing hers. It had been years since she'd had vodka straight and she'd forgotten how it burned going down.

"This tastes terrible," Kate proclaimed, screwing up her face in distaste as she observed her now empty glass.

"That's just because you didn't have enough," Tony said, grabbing her glass and refilling it.

"No more," Kate declared, setting down the glass after her second shot. "Anyway, I think alcohol would put me to sleep before getting me drunk tonight."

Tony shot a glance at Kate. She _did_ look tired: her eyes were dark and she looked a little pale. It was to be expected, with the week they'd just had but Tony wasn't used to this concern and protectiveness he frequently felt towards Kate now.

"Did you want to go to sleep?" Tony asked her.

"Here?" Kate asked, with a touch of surprise.

"Here," Tony confirmed. "It's the closest bed available."

It was something they hadn't done yet: stay over at the others – not since that first night, at least. After the way their relationship started, Kate had insisted on taking it slow.

Another yawn escaping Kate's mouth made up her mind for her.

"Here," she agreed.

And Kate found herself in the same bed, the same room she'd woken up in a month ago. This time, there were no clothes strewn about the room. Her clothes were neatly folded in Tony's bathroom; her watch on top. There was no hangover and confusion either. Just the arms of the man she was falling in love with securely wrapped around her as she floated off to sleep.

* * *

Tony lay awake listening to the gentle but steady sound of Kate's breaths. Under his arms, he could feel her stomach rising and falling with each breath she took. And if he leaned his head slightly towards her, his face fell into the softness of her hair. A sense of relief flooded through him as he realised that while she was asleep in his arms, he knew she was safe. The whole thing was more intoxicating and meaningful than any experience he'd had with women before. And as Tony slowly succumbed to the lure of sleep, he realised this was the first time he'd fallen asleep next to a woman he hadn't just had sex with.

* * *

Normally, Tony slept in on Sunday mornings. But his plans were ruined two days after his and Kate's one month anniversary when he was woken up early by a banging on his front door. He tried shoving a pillow over his head to see if the banging would stop. It didn't. It just grew louder and more frequent. As Tony became more awake than asleep it finally dawned on him that people normally didn't treat front doors as a drum set.

Pulling himself out of bed, Tony quickly made his way to the front door and opened it. When he looked back on it later, he could never remember what came first: realising it was Kate at his doorstep or the two words that came out of her mouth.

"I'm pregnant."

* * *

**HELP! What happens if an NCIS officer is pregnant? Is she put on desk duty? Put on maternity leave from the moment she annouces her pregnancy? Yes, I'm ignorant, so please HELP!**

**Okay, I couldn't help it. The "Kate and Tony have a one night stand!" story was a cliché to follow, I know, and I do realise how much of a bigger cliché the "Kate and Tony have a one night stand and Kate falls pregnant!" story is. But I have big plans for this pregnancy! … Sort of. No, I do. I do. I have plans. (If only I had something of a plan for my Administrative Law case note which is due in two days. Mais non.)**

**I suppose I should stop rambling and get stuck in to this case note. *Shudder* Oh, the joys of the two months leading up to exams. I swear that's when all of my assignments are due. Make a suffering student smile and avoid study for thirty seconds and:**

**REVIEW!**

**(Pretty, pretty please.)**

**Also, I feel like I should make it clear that although updates have been sporadic at best, I have not given up on this story! As long as there is interest, updates will continue! **


	6. Doubts

**Look at that! It only took me just over a month to get this update up, rather than my usual three months! Aren't you proud? **

**Thank you again to my wonderful, wonderful reviewers! You don't know how much I value each review. And thank you especially to the people who helped me out re pregnant NCIS agents!**

* * *

"What?" Tony asked, closing the door behind Kate and staring at her incredulously.

"I'm _pregnant,_ Tony," Kate repeated.

Tony continued staring at Kate, trying to wrap his mind around what he'd just been told.

"As in, I'm having a baby," Kate said, a tinge of irritation in her voice. "_Your_ baby."

It was the last thing he'd expected. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind. Having children wasn't something he had ever really thought about and then here was Kate, telling him she was pregnant with their child. There were times when he felt more child than adult … actually, it was uncommon for him to feel more adult than child. Sure, he loved being around kids but he also loved handing them back to their parents. Before Kate, he'd been reluctant to commit to one person and now, just after he'd made that commitment, he was being handed another big chunk of adult responsibility.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" she said angrily, but he heard the quiver in her voice.

Tony looked at Kate closely. It was obvious she was trying to act tough and in control of the situation but he knew her well enough to see the fear in her eyes. And all of a sudden, when he looked in her eyes, he realised what he had just been told. Kate was pregnant with their baby.

"Jesus," he said quietly.

Kate's mouth dropped open and she looked at him expectantly.

"'Jesus'?" Kate said, when it was obvious Tony wasn't going to speak again. "That's all you have to say?"

Kate started walking towards the door but Tony reached for her arm. "Wait."

Kate turned to face him.

"Are you going to keep it?"

Kate glared at Tony and yanked her arm from his grasp. "You're incredible, Tony," she spat out before storming out his door.

A part of her expected him to come after her. She was so angry, so upset and so terrified that she couldn't figure out if she was hoping he would or dreading the possibility. She stomped her way back to her car, furiously blinking back the tears that were threatening to surface. There she was, beyond scared, and all Tony could do was practically stare mutely at her. She slammed her car door shut and drummed her fingers against the steering wheel. Maybe she'd acted too hastily, storming out like that. Maybe Tony needed more time for the news to start sinking in. She'd give him five minutes to come after her and then she'd drive off.

Kate looked out the car window as a couple of people walked by, chatting happily. The sight surprised her, as if she'd forgotten that life was going on despite her world just having been turned upside down. It wasn't that she didn't want a baby. Kids had always been part of her plan. Her life just hadn't reached that part of the plan involving kids yet. Everything was going to change and she'd just wanted some sign from Tony that he was there for her.

He had two minutes left to get to her. Kate tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her heart telling her Tony wouldn't be coming and turned the music on.

Really, though – would it have been impossible for Tony to say something like "we'll work it out" or "I'm here for you"? Or even just to give her a hug?

One minute.

But this _was_ Tony, Kate reminded herself as the anger boiled up again. The closest he'd come to responsibility was probably learning to spell the word. If he'd even done that. Kate let out a sigh. She knew that wasn't fair. But it _was_ true that Tony wasn't the most responsible guy in the world. And right now, she didn't know if he could really be a father to a kid. She didn't want to do it alone but she was beginning to believe that was the future before her.

The five minutes were up and he hadn't come. Had she really expected him to, though? Nevertheless, she still found herself looking in the direction of his place before driving away. Just in case he was there.

He wasn't.

* * *

He was still in shock when Kate stormed out. He hardly understood what happened – Kate had come in, told him she was pregnant and left. Just like that. It felt like it had happened in the blink of an eye. If it had happened at all, that is.

Sitting down in the chair closest to him, Tony shut his eyes. It _was_ pretty early on a Sunday morning. Perhaps there was a chance that he'd dreamed all of this and when he opened his eyes again, he'd be lying back in his bed. Slowly, Tony opened his eyes. No luck. Everything was still the way it was when he'd shut his eyes.

Tony pinched himself. It hurt.

The theory of this all just being a dream was becoming less and less likely.

Which meant that Kate really was pregnant. And, from the looks of it, furious at him.

Tony sat completely still for several minutes as he thought about what this meant. A mountain of changes. A huge dose of responsibility. Nothing could be the same now. But somehow, despite all of this, a sense of excitement was rising in him. He couldn't imagine a better person than Kate to have a kid with: she was beautiful, intelligent, loyal, witty and, just by being herself, had managed to change Tony into a one-woman man. And the idea of having a kid became more alluring the more he thought of it. His own son or daughter to play with, to love. A child who would call _him_ dad. So things were going to change. So what? Maybe it was all changing for the better.

There was just the little issue of Kate's anger that he had to deal with first. It probably wasn't the best move of his to freeze on the spot and forget how to speak when she made the announcement. But it had taken him completely by surprise. She hadn't prepared him for it at all – no sitting him down, no saying "there's something I have to tell you." Still, he could tell that she was shocked and frightened, and he should have been more supportive.

Tony stood up, got dressed and grabbed his car keys. Now that he'd had a bit more time to deal with it, supportive was just what he was going to be.

* * *

She hadn't moved from her couch in the two hours since she'd returned home. She was willing to bet that she hadn't moved from this position – legs folded under her, biting the nails on her right hand – in that whole time, either. At first, she'd been surprised every time she realised that another few minutes had passed and Tony still hadn't called. After awhile, though, she just came to expect not to hear from him.

Even so, when she heard the knock on her door, she instantly knew it was him. And when she opened her door, she wasn't proved wrong.

"Hey," she said quietly, not meeting his eye.

"Hi," he replied. "Can I come in?"

She stepped back to let him in, closing the door behind her.

"I bought you something," he said, holding out a bag.

Kate took the bag and reached inside. Her hand closed around a soft piece of material and when she pulled it out, she looked at a white baby's outfit, with yellow ducks trailing across the chest. A lump formed in her throat as she looked up at Tony, still clutching the outfit in her hand.

"We'll do this together, Kate," he said, taking a step towards her. "I'm sorry I didn't say that earlier – I should have – I was just completely shocked by the news. But every step along the way, I'll be there."

He moved forwards to take her in his arms but Kate took a step back.

"Will you?" she asked, the scepticism in her voice feeling like a kick in his gut.

"What the hell does that mean?" he asked quietly.

She could hear the anger in his voice and took a deep breath as she put the outfit back in the bag and sat it on the table. He was probably going to like hearing this about as much as she was going to like saying it.

"What I mean is this won't be like taking care of someone's kid for a day. You can't just hand back the baby when the fun and games end or when you decide you're too tired to take care of it anymore. This is full of commitments and responsibilities and … well … that's not really your style."

"You think I don't know that?" Tony asked, the anger in his voice growing. "The way you're talking to me, Kate, you'd think you were talking to a little kid! I didn't come here to tell you I'm here for you because I thought this was going to be one big, fun game!"

"Really? Because the way you act sometimes makes me think _everything_ is just one big game to you!"

"So you think I can't take anything seriously, is that it? The whole time we've been together, you think I've just considered it nothing more than a game? That it hasn't meant anything more to me?"

"Tell me – is that what you think?" Tony yelled when Kate didn't respond.

"I think you've been trying," Kate said carefully. She'd never seen Tony this furious before and a part of her was afraid of making him any angrier.

"I _have_ been trying Kate! And you know what? Even with all your talk of it being me who's afraid of commitment, sometimes I get the feeling that _you're_ the one pulling back in this relationship. I'm trying my hardest to give you the relationship I think you deserve. I _am_ giving this – _us_ – as much as I can."

He stopped for breath, the anger in his voice fading to a tired resignation as he said, "If that's not enough for you, then you'll just have to end this."

Kate took a step back, looking as if she'd just been struck. A vulnerability had appeared on Tony's face that she'd never seen before. All of a sudden, she realised what she had done.

"Oh Tony, I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Are you sorry for what you said or what you're going to say?"

She took a tentative step towards him. "I was wrong. You've been amazing since we got together. More than I could have imagined. You know, I only realised when I woke up this morning I might be pregnant. I put the pieces together and went and bought a pregnancy test. And when it was positive, I automatically drove over to your place. I just needed to be with you."

Tony eyed Kate cautiously, trying to figure out where she was going with this. She was fighting back tears and he was terrified it was because she was about to leave him.

"I'm scared about this," Kate continued, quickly brushing away a tear. "And I know I overreacted. I'm so sorry I doubted you."

"It's okay," he said quietly as he brushed another tear from Kate's cheek.

"Are you still in this with me?" she whispered, looking up at him.

"Definitely," he said, relief flooding through him as he kissed Kate and held her against him tightly. "Every step of the way."

"Thank God."

* * *

**Wow. I just realised that this story now has as many chapters as my first Tate story did and this one isn't even close to the end (according to my muse but be warned – she's a fickle one).**

**And there you have what I get up to when my assignments are (FINALLY) over and exams are two weeks away. Do I work on the summaries for my law exams? Do I catch up on my readings? No. I write.**

**More than that, I seem to write angst-y Tate when exams loom. But at least it had a happy ending! Will there be more angst? Will there be happy endings? Or will there be caramel lattes? There's only one way to find out:**

**REVIEW!**

**(Pretty please. :) ****)**

**(Look – I even included a smile!)**


	7. Under Lock and Key

**Uh oh. Once again, I went much longer between updates than I meant to! And once again, I am left apologising profusely, promising a shorter time before the next update and thanking the wonderful, wonderful reviewers who have stayed with me despite having to wait ages between updates. So I'm sorry, I promise I'll try to update sooner and thank you to everyone who reviewed! It's probably a bit premature but I'm thinking there should be some sort of prize for the 100th review. So I'm going to start thinking about that and if anyone has a suggestion, please send it my way!**

* * *

Gibbs' eyes had darkened the moment they told him they needed to talk to him. Privately.

"Come," he grumbled as he marched away, forcing Kate and Tony to almost jog to keep up with him.

"Sit," he said, closing the door behind him.

They scrambled into seats. Kate clasped her hands together and stared down at her lap, feeling a lot like a teenager in the principal's office. Tony tried to look nonchalant and cheerful while in reality, he was trying to remember the last time he had felt this scared. Gibbs looming over the two of them with that look in his eyes was not conducive to tranquility.

"Talk."

Tony glanced over at Kate who was looking expectantly at him. They'd decided Gibbs needed to be told as soon as possible but, clearly, they hadn't thought about who would be the one to tell him.

"You see, boss," Tony began before, for the first time in his life, words failed if he got fired? What if Kate got fired? What if they _both_ lost their job and had to raise this baby on money made from busking or something? He wasn't even that musical.

Kate, noticing that Tony had run out of steam, took over from him. "Something happened."

Tony gave her an encouraging nod, to persuade her to keep going but Kate let out a sigh of defeat as she realised she had no idea where to go from there. Should she just announce the news to Gibbs? Should she lead up to it, to gently prepare him? In the end, she decided to settle for letting Tony take over again.

"Something kind of big," Tony helpfully added.

Another silence filled the room and Kate squirmed uncomfortably as she realised that Gibbs had been standing in the same place, in the same position, with the same expression on his face that entire time. Kate jumped as Gibbs sat himself down across from her and Tony – she'd almost forgotten that he wasn't a statue.

"You think I don't know?" Gibbs asked, raising his eyebrows. "That I couldn't pick up on the signs?"

"The signs?" Kate asked, glancing down at her stomach. She wasn't showing yet and apart from being a little tired, she didn't think there were any signs to pick up on.

"But if you know," Tony said hopefully, "that means you're not going to fire us, right?"

"The minute the two of you being together affects your work, that's when I'll decide your fate."

Tony and Kate looked at each other as they both realised it was wishful thinking imagining Gibbs had picked up on the pregnancy thing, too.

"What is it?" Gibbs asked, noticing the look of disappointment on both their faces.

"I'm pregnant," Kate blurted out at the same moment that Tony proclaimed, "Kate's pregnant."

It was the first time they had ever seen Gibbs truly surprised by anything. Kate bit her lip nervously as she noticed the change in his expression while Tony fervently hoped that wasn't anger he saw flashing in Gibbs' eyes.

"How far along?" Gibbs asked.

"I think about six weeks," Kate said quietly. "I only found out on the weekend – I haven't been to the doctors yet."

Gibbs stared intently at the pair before him as he let the reality of the situation sink in.

"The whole 'as long as it doesn't affect your work, you're fine' thing still applies, right?" Tony asked, not liking the prolonged silence.

Gibbs raised his eyebrows and remained silent. Visions of busking reappeared in Tony's mind. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad; they could have a whole bunch of kids and get them all to join in on it. Get each kid to sing or learn a different instrument. Or both. They could be like a modern day von Trapp family. It could work. Maybe. Probably not.

"Kate, you're on desk duty," Gibbs said. "Go."

Relief flooded Kate's face as she hurried out of the room, shooting Tony a sympathetic look before she closed the door behind her.

"What about me?" Tony asked.

Gibbs slowly stood up and walked over to Tony.

"I still have my job, right?"

Tony felt a slap on the back of his head.

"Get back to work," Gibbs barked at him.

"Thank you, boss!" Tony said, scrambling out of his seat and practically running to the door.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs called just as Tony's had rested on the handle.

Tony slowly turned around to meet Gibbs' gaze.

"You take good care of her."

"I will," Tony said seriously. "I promise."

Gibbs gave a nod and Tony left the room.

* * *

Kate anxiously looked up at Tony as he returned. She was certain Gibbs wouldn't fire him. At least, she was pretty certain. Well, she thought it was more likely than not that Tony would still have his job. Perhaps. He gave her a thumbs up before he sat down at his own desk and she could virtually feel all the tension and stress disappearing. It was over. Gibbs had been told and they had both survived_ and_ kept their jobs.

Gibbs returned a few minutes after Tony.

"DiNozzo, McGee – grab your stuff," he announced.

"What about Kate?" McGee asked, confused.

"Move it, McGee!" Gibbs ordered.

* * *

"Hey, Abby," Kate yelled as she walked into Abby's lab, competing with the music filling the space.

"Kate!" Abby exclaimed, turning off the music. "Aren't you meant to be out with Team Gibbs at the moment?"

"That's sort of what I came down here to talk about," Kate said slowly. As much as she didn't like it, her colleagues would probably figure out why she was on desk duty in next to no time. Her secret would soon be common knowledge and she'd rather Abby find out from her than the rumour mill.

Abby's eyes grew wide and she took a step back. "You're not leaving, are you?"

"No," Kate said. "I'm pregnant."

Abby instantly went from looking concerned to looking beyond excited, her eyes growing wider by the moment. Kate heard something that sounded like a squeal before Abby pulled her into a suffocating hug.

"This is so, so great!" Abby exclaimed, pulling away for a moment to look at Kate before hugging her tightly again. "I'm going to be an aunty!"

Kate squirmed under Abby's grasp for a moment before suddenly being released. "You_ will_ get your kid to call me Aunt Abby, right?" she asked, eyeing Kate up.

"Of course."

"Yay! I'm so excited for you and Tony!" Abby squealed, quickly hugging Kate again. "You're excited, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I only found out on the weekend – it hasn't really had time to sink in. And it's still really early, I'm only maybe halfway through the first trimester so-"

"Don't even think like that, Kate!" Abby exclaimed, covering her ears. "_Nothing _will go wrong with this, okay? You won't touch alcohol or caffeine, you'll eat uber healthy foods and you'll have the most perfect baby ever. Speaking of food, have you been eating right?"

"I think so," Kate said hesitantly.

"You _think_ so? Tonight, I'm going to write you a list of foods you can eat and foods you can't. And you will stick to it. Actually, we should go to lunch now so I can make sure you eat properly for that meal."

A smile crept onto Kate's face at Abby's protectiveness. "Okay, let's go. But can you promise me something?"

"What?"

"Can this just stay between us? I'm sure the others will work it out soon enough but I'd just like the time to deal with it alone, until they do."

"Of course," Abby promised, linking her arm through Kate's as they started to walk out of the lab. "I won't tell anyone you're carrying the spawn of DiNozzo."

* * *

Kate opened her door to leave for work the next morning only to find Tony waiting for her.

"Good morning!" Tony exclaimed giving her a kiss.

"Morning," Kate replied. "Checking up on me before work now?"

"I thought I'd give you a lift," Tony said, "rather than risk you driving when you haven't had your morning coffee."

Kate glared at Tony. "I'm well aware of the fact that I can't have caffeine."

"And I also wanted to give you this," Tony said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a key.

Kate reached for the key, a smile playing on her lips.

"Just so you can come over whenever you want," he told her.

"Thank you," Kate said before slipping her hand in his as they walked to his car.

* * *

It was on the third day of Kate's desk duty that it hit him. The two of them were walked to the back of the van to get the equipment when he declared his discovery.

"Kate's pregnant!"

Tony slowly turned around to face McGee who looked triumphant, amused and just a little bit concerned all at the same time.

"That's why she hasn't been with us all week, isn't it? She's not sick. She hasn't been punished by Gibbs. She's pregnant."

"You've got one hell of an imaginaton, McGoogle," Tony grumbled, realising too late how unconvincing he sounded. He grabbed what he needed and started to walk away.

"Hey Tony?" McGee called out. "Congratulations."

* * *

The first thing he saw as the three of them walked back to their desks that afternoon was Kate yawning.

"Are you okay, Kate?" he asked her. "You look a bit tired."

"Thanks, McGee," Kate muttered. "That's always what I want to hear."

"Well, maybe you need some more water?" he suggested anxiously, walking up to her desk. "Your glass is empty. Or maybe you need a snack? It's really important to keep your blood sugar levels up, you know."

Kate slowly shifted her gaze from McGee to Tony, who met her glare with a sheepish smile. "You told him!"

"Actually, I worked it out for myself," McGee said proudly. "Tony tried to deny it."

Kate sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"It could be worse, Kate," Tony told her. "At least you're not pregnant with McGee's kid."

Kate rolled her eyes as Tony sat himself down only to miss his chair and land on the floor.

"They're definitely some good genes you're passing along, Tony," McGee said before returning to his own desk.

* * *

"So," Kate said, as they walked out of the doctor's on Friday afternoon, "it's definitely happening."

"There'll be a little Tony running around soon," Tony said with a smile.

"Or a little Kate!" she protested.

"You think it will be a girl?"

"_You_ think it will be a boy?"

"I asked first."

Kate shrugged. "I don't know. I'd be happy with either."

"Me too."

They walked back to the car in silence.

"I think it will be a girl," Kate said, putting her seatbelt on.

"_I_ think it will be a boy," Tony said.

"Well, one of us will be right."

"I hope," Tony said with a smile.

"Do you want to stay over tonight?" Kate asked as they arrived at her place.

"Tony?"Kate asked several moments later when she didn't get a response.

"Sorry, I thought that was a rhetorical question," Tony said, getting out of the car and following Kate inside.

He settled himself down on her couch, turning on the TV as she disappeared to put away her bag and coat. Although they hadn't been together for all that long, everything with Kate felt natural and easy. He was as comfortable bickering with her as he was taking her in his arms or settling himself into her home.

She returned a moment later, sitting next to him. He put his arm around her shoulder and she reached up to his hand, slipping something into it.

"I thought it was time I return the favour," she said as he saw the spare key to her place nestled in his palm.

"It will make keeping an eye on you while you're pregnant with my son easier," Tony conceded.

Kate snuggled into Tony. "Our daughter would definitely prefer to have you around more."

* * *

**In exciting news, I flipped a coin the other day to decide the gender of Kate and Tony's baby. Seriously. I figured I should use something objective like a coin toss. So I did. I am that cool... Hm. And I can promise it is either a boy or a girl. I'm doing family law this semester and in my last lecture, our lecturer told us how she called the births and deaths registry to find out what happens if you give birth to an intersex baby. Apparently, you can have the gender recorded on the birth certificate as 'indeterminate.' That will not be happening in this story. But I thought it was an interesting piece of information. The end.**

**Speaking of exciting news, was anyone else excited to find out Sasha Alexander's pregnant again? I went to a party that night and told several of my friends. Several times. And hadn't even had any alcohol at that stage. I think I may be too exciteable sometimes... ANYHOW, I suppose the real question now is who will have the baby first: Kate in the story or Sasha? Hopefully, updates will become a bit more frequent so this won't turn into the longest pregnancy ever. I'll try, I promise! I'm actually quite excited to start writing the next chapter which I hope means it will be up quite soon.**

**Why am I excited for the next chapter?**

**Do I have a good reason to be excited for the next chapter?**

**Do I even have a plan for the next chapter? Well, I do but there's only one way to find out the answers to the other questions:**

**REVIEW!**

**(Pretty please.)**


	8. Yuletide Gatherings

**Yep. Another update. Slowly we inch closer to the end of this story! (And, I assure you, it WILL happen!) I honestly thought it was only three months since I updated. Then I checked, and it was over four. Life was **_**insanely **_**busy in that time, though: I moved house, was in a play, finished third year uni and got a puppy, amongst other things. I am also considering giving sobriety a spin next Yuletide season after the recent influx of parties…**

**Anyhow, to make up for being such a lousy updater, I have written a chapter that: a) is the longest chapter I have ever written (hopefully it won't bore you), b) made the chapter Christmas themed AND c) written an ending to this chapter that I honestly didn't intend to put in this story anytime, anywhere – it was like planning on eating a piece of fruit and then having a three course meal. Or something like that.**

**To conclude (oh, how formal!): thank you as always to the wonderful, wonderful, wonderfully patient reviewers and MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

**

* * *

**

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Tony asked, his breaths rising up before him in little white puffs.

"My grandmother took ninety minutes to give birth to her first baby," Kate told him over her shoulder as he wondered what relevance this had to jogging in near freezing temperatures. "She put it down to all of the walking she did during her pregnancy."

Nope. Still didn't see the relevance. They were jogging, not walking – his laboured breaths and stitch were proof of that.

"I'm hoping," she continued, "if I jog instead of walk, it's doubly effective and will only take me forty five minutes."

Tony shook his head in amazement. He could point out that her grandmother was probably a freak of nature and there was no guarantee that Kate would have freakishly quick births, too. But he got the feeling such comments wouldn't be much appreciated.

* * *

He should have known that Kate was the sort of person who'd become paranoid when pregnant. Shortly after she implemented her crazy jogging regime, she experienced her first bout of morning sickness.

Tony awoke early one morning to the sound of retching coming from the bathroom. He found Kate leaning over the toilet, holding her hair back and breathing deeply.

"Morning," she said feebly, looking up at him miserably as he took over the job of holding back her hair.

He was about to reply to her greeting but was interrupted as Kate hastily grabbed the toilet bowl and threw up again.

"This is not normal," Kate complained, sitting against the bathroom wall once the second round was over.

"Morning sickness?" Tony asked, sitting next to her. "Sure it is."

"I threw up _twice_! What if I'm dehydrating? What if I end up with really severe morning sickness?"

"I'm sure that won't happen," he said, giving her knee a reassuring pat.

"And I was taking all of the preventative measures! I left crackers by my bed every night to eat as soon as I woke up, so my blood sugar levels wouldn't get too low, and I – "

"Got to almost eleven weeks before having any morning sickness," Tony finished for her. "I really don't think you have anything to worry about."

She looked at him sceptically and he could practically see her mentally listing all the things to worry about with pregnancies: all of the things to avoid, all of the things to do to ensure a healthy, perfect pregnancy. It made him feel like he was walking on eggshells sometimes.

"Why don't we go out for dinner tonight?" he suggested.

Maybe getting her out in the real world a bit more would curb some of this paranoia.

* * *

"I can't decide what I want," Kate said, studying the menu.

Tony starting suggesting a pasta dish but she broke him off.

"Nope. No processed meats – it mightn't be safe for the baby."

Tony gave a sigh. "A salad then?"

"No, I should get something that's been cooked. You don't know how long the salad's been left out for or what it might have been contaminated with."

"Kate," Tony groaned.

"What?" she asked, looking innocently into his exasperated face. "Abby told me."

He was going to have to talk to Abby. The last thing Kate needed was food for her paranoia – it was like giving a box of matches to a pyromaniac.

"Look, I get that you're trying to do everything right," he told her, "but don't you think maybe you're taking things a bit too far?"

Kate looked up from her menu and stared him directly in the eyes. "No."

Once the fact that she was pregnant had begun to sunk in, she'd felt this overwhelming need to protect. In six months time, she wanted to be holding a happy, healthy baby and she felt it her responsibility to ensure that happened. A little care and concern was necessary. Thankfully, Tony seemed to understand this topic wasn't up for negotiation and resumed studying the menu.

After they'd placed their orders, Kate turned her attention to the restaurant. Boughs and bells adorned the walls and the sound of carols could just be made out over the chatter surrounding them.

"Can you believe it's Christmas in a week?" she asked.

"What do you want left in your stocking this year, Katie?" he asked with a wink.

"A good escape plan."

He looked at her in confusion.

"I figured I should probably tell my family about all of this."

"They won't support you?"

"They'll support me," she said, leaning back in her chair and playing with the edge of the napkin. "They might just be a bit disappointed it happened before I got married. They're pretty traditional."

"What, and you're _not _traditional?" Tony asked with a chuckle.

Kate gave him a small smile and took a sip of her water as something clicked in his mind.

"Wait – does that mean you're going home for Christmas?"

"Aren't you?" she asked, looking at him in surprise. "I assumed you'd spend it with your dad."

Tony suppressed a bitter laugh. What should he tell her? That there were more years than fingers on his hands since he'd last spent Christmas with his father? That "family" holidays had never really existed in his family? That his father's idea of Christmas was to travel to an exotic place with whatever exotic woman was in his life?

In the end, he told her all of it. He hadn't meant to but she'd looked at him so inquisitively that it had all just come pouring out. She listened intently, made sympathetic noises in all the right places and didn't interrupt him. All this time, she'd assumed Tony had been some spoilt rich kid but now, she was seeing a lonely, neglected boy take his place. He wasn't seeking any pity in telling her all of this – just simply explaining why he'd be spending Christmas alone – and it made her feel for him and love him more.

In perfect timing, their meals arrived right as Tony finished talking. He instantly busied himself with the food before him, suddenly aware of how much past he'd just divulged before a "Tony" brought his attention back to the person in front of him. Kate was looking at him, her food untouched – he wondered if she'd even noticed it arrive.

"Come home with me for Christmas."

Tony opened his mouth, about to protest but Kate broke him off. "We'll leave Christmas Eve, come back Boxing Day – it's only two nights. And I'd really love to spend Christmas with you."

She reached across the table for his hand and he couldn't resist anymore. "Okay," he conceded.

A grin filled her face and she squeezed his hand before letting it go. "Thank you!"

A moment later, when his mouth was filled with food, she cheerfully told him:

"You can help me break the news to my parents."

* * *

Kate shifted uncomfortably on the front porch as the last echoes of the doorbell died away. Tony, standing next to her with their bags, picked up on her tension and flashed her a reassuring smile. Kate attempted a smile in return but it quickly died away as she heard footsteps approaching the door.

Tony watched the door swing open to reveal Kate's mother. He didn't have much of a chance to look at her for several moments, as she immediately enveloped her daughter in a hug. From what Tony could tell, she was a short, slight woman with brown hair.

She pulled out of the embrace and Tony searched her face for similarities to Kate but found none. She turned her gaze to Tony and he noticed just how little she was – he was willing to bet a good gust of wind would knock her over. He flashed her his most charming smile, at which her mouth set in a firm line as she looked him up and down.

"So," she said, "this is your new beau, Caitlin? This is Tony?"

"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs Todd," he said, sticking out his hand. She shook it with an energy that belied her size and ushered them inside.

"Your father's anxious to see you but we'll set your bags down first," Mrs Todd told Kate, before turning to Tony, "you'll be sleeping in the boys' old room."

"Sounds great," he said, following Kate and her mother up the stairs. He was shown into a room and looked out the window. He could see a small backyard with a dining set and, up a tree, a tree house. He smiled as he imagined a little Kate racing around the garden and tearing up the ladder to the tree house.

"So."

Tony turned around and saw Kate standing in the doorway.

"I always wanted a tree house," he said.

She walked up to the window and gazed out.

"Me too. My sister and brothers took control of it and never let me up. They kept changing the password every day to keep me out. I was only allowed to use it when they stopped but it wasn't much fun on my own."

Tony smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist. "I couldn't imagine anyone getting away with doing that to you these days."

"Did you not just meet my mother?"

"She seems harmless!"

Kate snorted. "You'll see." She looked behind her at the doorway. "Are you ready to go downstairs now?"

Tony unwound his arm from Kate's waist and took her hand. "Ready."

* * *

They'd spent some time discussing when and how to break the news to her parents. During Christmas lunch was overruled from the beginning: Kate couldn't think of anything less tactful than casually announcing her pregnancy over the passing of the salads. After much debate, they'd decided on Christmas Eve evening, when they'd returned from Mass. Kate reasoned her parents would be in their holiest and most forgiving mood then. Tony wasn't quite convinced with Kate's argument but went along with it anyway.

The only problem was that the time for the announcement rolled around much faster than either had anticipated. The afternoon somehow disappeared, as did the Mass Tony was sure would have sent him to sleep. All of a sudden, they were congregated in the hallway after returning from Church.

"Well," said Mrs Todd, shrugging off her coat, "I'll get dinner started."

"Mum – wait," Kate said quickly, before she had the chance to back out. "Let's all sit down in the living room first."

Her parents shot her confused looks but Kate took a deep breath and led them all to the couches. This was ridiculous: she wasn't a kid, but she still felt like she was a sixteen-year-old trying to tell her parents she was pregnant. She felt Tony's hand reach for hers and gratefully clutched onto it.

"We have some news."

She saw her mother's eyes immediately seek out her hand and could detect the disappointment as she discovered a nude finger. A flicker of hope returned to her mother's eyes: no doubt she was thinking they just hadn't got around to buying the ring yet. Kate decided to rid her mother of false hope as quickly as possible.

"I'm pregnant."

The room went still for a moment as her father's shoulders slumped and her mother tried to determine how to best handle this.

"Caitlin Elizabeth Todd," her mother said, standing up, "come over here."

Kate cautiously walked towards her mother, wondering what was about to happen until she unexpectedly felt herself in her mother's embrace. She blinked back tears at this surprising, comforting gesture, feeling her stress seep away.

"Help me make dinner," her mother said, and she obediently followed her into the kitchen.

Tony clasped his hands in his lap and looked at Kate's father. Physically, he could find more similarities between Kate and her father than Kate and her mother but the man scared him. He'd hardly heard him speak since he'd arrived whereas Kate's mother had fired a never-ending tirade of questions at him. Sure, he'd got the impression Mrs Todd wasn't impressed with what she saw but honestly, glares were less chilling than silence. And now he was left with silent company.

"Well," Mr Todd said softly, standing up, "I don't know about you but I sure could do with a scotch right now."

Tony sat with his mouth hanging open, trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.

"Want one?" Mr Todd asked, holding up the glass he'd just poured.

He was being serious.

"Yes, please," Tony said as he hurried over, instantly liking the man more.

They drank in silence but Tony hadn't expected otherwise. Mr Todd seemed fixated on the Christmas tree and Tony looked over at the sparkling lights and dangling ornaments, trying to see where the fascination lay.

"Take good care of my little girl," Mr Todd said unexpectedly.

Tony looked at him but his gaze was still focused on the tree.

"I promise I will."

"She's always tried to be so strong – ever since she was a kid," he said, giving his head a little shake. "And she _is_ a strong girl…But just remember she's not always as strong as she seems."

* * *

"I don't understand," Mrs Todd said, chopping a carrot. "When you came home for Christmas last year, the only time you mentioned Tony was to complain. And now you're pregnant to him."

"There's more to Tony than I first thought," Kate said simply.

"I just don't understand it," her mother repeated. "You said he was an immature womaniser who infuriated you, and now you expect me to believe you're happy with him?"

"Mum, I just told you – he's not exactly who I first thought he was."

They worked in silence for a while until her mother piped up again.

"Are you just staying with him because of the baby?"

"No!" Kate exclaimed, dropping her potato peeler as anger rose up in her. "I'm with him because I love him – he makes me happier than anyone I've ever known. But you wouldn't be able to understand that since you haven't even given him a chance!"

"Darling, settle down. I love you – I just want to make sure you're doing the right thing for you."

"I _am_," Kate said through gritted teeth as she resumed peeling the potatoes. No wonder she felt like a sixteen-year-old here at home – her mother brought it out in her. Her mother just had to say one wrong word and Kate would get sucked back into the circular arguments she couldn't win that so characterised her teenage years.

"_Please_ just give him a fair chance," she begged quietly.

"Providing you keep both of your eyes open when it comes to him."

Kate sighed.

* * *

It was impossible to sleep that night. Kate lay awake glancing around her shoebox of a room. The rest of the night had been a bit of an improvement: her mother had actually made more of an effort with Tony – she'd glared at him just a fraction less and even almost smiled at one of his jokes. The real surprise, though, was her father who had seemed to take a liking to Tony; Kate couldn't remember the last time he'd talked so much at the dinner table.

Even so, there was something about being in her old room that kept sleep at bay. She was surrounded by her past: she was lying under the bedspread she'd been given for her fourteenth birthday, her beside table drawers were filled with notes and letters sent to the teenage Kate and her one and only trophy still stood on her desk. She felt a bit as though she was in a time warp.

Her door emitted its trademark squeak as it slowly opened and Kate glanced across, hoping it wasn't her mother. Her face broke into a grin as she saw Tony slip into her room, tip-toeing to her.

"Hey," she whispered, throwing back her sheets so he could join her in bed.

"I haven't had to sneak into my girlfriend's room since I was a teenager," he whispered, cuddling into her.

"I think this house brings out the teenager in people. That or my mother."

"She _is _a firecracker."

Kate stifled a giggle. "Firecracker," she mocked him.

"I can tell she really loves you, though," he said seriously.

Kate stroked Tony's cheek. "Thank you for putting up with her."

"Well, it's worth it," he said, giving her a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He glanced quickly at the clock next to the bed before returning his gaze to her. "Hey, Kate?"

"Mm?"

"Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," she said with a smile before their lips found each other again.

* * *

The Todd clan started arriving early the next morning. By midday, Tony was more than struggling to match faces to names or even remember names at all. Kate's sister, Laura, was fairly easy to remember: she looked and sounded like a younger version of Mrs Todd, so Tony tried to keep a safe distance from her. Kate's brothers were slightly harder to place: James, Matthew and Peter all looked similar, so Tony resorted to avoiding calling them by name, which was working fairly well. The situation was complicated, however, by the fact that each sibling had brought a spouse and at least one child with them. When it came to these names, Tony was a lost cause. It was almost a relief to sit down to lunch, to have Kate planted next to him.

"I'll give you one hundred dollars if you can name everyone at the table," she told him quietly, with a wicked smile.

He returned the smile. "I'll come back to your room tonight if you remind me of all their names."

"Deal," Kate said quickly.

"Kate?"

Kate sheepishly looked across the table at her sister, hoping she hadn't overheard that exchange.

"Did you want a glass of wine?" Laura asked, holding up a bottle.

"Kate can't drink wine," her mother quickly jumped in. "She's pregnant."

Well, she supposed it beat having to tell the whole family herself. Just. It was still unnerving having all eyes rest on her and Tony.

"But Aunty Kate isn't married," one of the kids said.

"Silly, you don't have to be married to get a baby," one of the other kids said. "You just have to have sex."

"Benjamin!" Laura said warningly to her eldest son, right as another kid piped up with, "What's sex?"

Kate felt like burying her face in her hands but she knew it was no use. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw James, who was sitting next to Tony, give him a high-five while Laura and her husband tried to control the situation with the kids.

"Aunty Kate had sex with that man!" Benjamin screeched, pointing at Tony and laughing hysterically.

Mr Todd rose from his seat. "Would anyone like a scotch?" he asked half-heartedly, not waiting for an answer before trotting off to the liqueur cabinet.

Kate gave a sigh. This was definitely worse than the Christmas when Matthew's son got a pea stuck up his nose.

"Well, Mum," Peter said over the chaos, "next Christmas you'll have another grandson here."

"We don't know what we're having yet," Tony said.

"Doesn't matter. The first kid any Todd has is always a boy. It happened to my sister, our brothers, our parents, _their _parents. It's like a family trait. You mark my word – you're having a boy."

* * *

Kate flopped down on the couch later that evening when the last people had finally left. She'd forgotten how exhausting Christmas with her family could be and cherished the chance to close her eyes and only hear silence.

It didn't last long.

"Caitlin."

She cracked open an eye to see her mother looking down at her.

"Come upstairs with me."

She stifled a groan and followed her mother upstairs to her parents' room.

"I'm really tired, Mum," she said, sitting on the bed. "This won't take long will it?"

"You've never been very patient, have you?" her mother said with a smile as she rummaged in the trunk at the foot of the bed.

She ignored her mother's comment and fought the urge to fall asleep there and then on the bed.

"Here it is."

Kate looked over at her mother, who was holding up a tiny piece of clothing.

"It was yours when you were a baby," she said, sitting down next to Kate and laying the outfit on her daughter's lap. "I kept it for when you have a baby, which I guess is now."

Kate traced a finger over the tiny sleeves and tried to ignore the lump rising in her throat. Her mother drove her crazy and Kate often wondered if she ever really understood her youngest daughter but Tony was right: her mother _did _love her.

"And it's unisex," she continued. "So even if your brother _is _right about the Todd trait, it can still be used."

"Thanks, Mum," Kate said, turning to her mother and giving her a hug.

"And for the record," her mother whispered in her ear, "I think it's a girl."

* * *

He returned to her room again that night. They kept the curtains open and stared out at the dark cold night, the stillness of everything illuminated by the streetlights. They'd exchanged presents earlier that day and she was refusing to take off the diamond necklace he'd given her until she absolutely had to: the only thing worse than taking it off was the thought of it twisting and breaking in her sleep.

Every now and then a car would pass but apart from that, they were on their own as they saw out the last of Christmas day. He held her tightly in his arms, breathing in the scent of her and brushing his face on her soft hair. Life had come a long way since last Christmas – hell, life had come a long way in the past few months. And it was all because of the woman in his arms.

As if she could tell what he was thinking, she turned around and kissed him deeply.

"I love you," she whispered, her breath tickling his lips.

"I love you, too."

When they looked out the window again, snowflakes were dancing in the beams of the streetlights. He could feel her sigh in his arms, as if the snow just completed the moment.

It wasn't planned. He hadn't come here with the intention of doing this. But all of the circumstances combined just made it right.

He turned her to face him and, with his thumb under her chin, gently tilted her head up so her gaze met his. He brushed another kiss on her lips and then, just as easily, the words flowed out:

"Marry me, Kate."

* * *

**Will Kate accept the proposal?**

**Will she turn it down?**

**There's only one way to find out and SIMULTANEOUSLY make Santa's good list:**

**REVIEW!**

**(Pretty please!)**

**(You know you want to be on Santa's good list.)**


	9. Let it Snow

**Hm. Two months between updates. That's…pretty standard I suppose. Sigh. And Sasha Alexander totally beat the Kate of this story to giving birth. (I was SO excited to hear about her having a little boy!) Maybe one day updates will be more frequent? I'll keep trying. And honestly, I do try but life so often seems to get in the way.**

**Word of warning: most of this chapter was written with me wearing my new glasses (I was SO excited to get them – honestly. I feel all Alex Cabot-ish being a blonde law student with glasses now! Except I'm only meant to wear them for exams or when I'm studying for hours) and the last bit or two was written after a glass of champagne, with another glass in front of me that was finished before I finished the chapter. (In my defence: it's my twenty-first tomorrow. I'm practicing celebrating for tomorrow and for my party on Saturday. And we all know practice makes perfect.) So if it seems disjointed/whatever, you now know why. **

**Finally: thank you, thank you, THANK you to my marvelous reviewers! Without you all, updates wouldn't be as frequent as they are now. Truly. And you know how long it is between my updates anyhow. **

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* * *

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She must have misheard. That was the only explanation she could conceive for thinking that Tony had just proposed to her. His face was so earnest, he looked so excited that she wondered if maybe it _was _possible he'd just asked her to marry him. She grappled for the right words to say before realising she wasn't even sure if she could find her voice and with each second that passed, Tony looked just that bit less excited. And just that bit more concerned.

His hand dropped from under her chin and she could feel him take her hands in his own. "Kate?"

"What did you say?" she whispered.

"Marry me."

She hadn't misheard. One of _the _moments she'd been dreaming about since before she could remember had arrived and all she felt was frozen. Her brain couldn't get past the fact that Tony had asked her to marry him, it couldn't go any further to give her an answer. She was just conscious of Tony's hands tightening around her own as he tensed up in apprehension.

"Will you marry me?" he asked quietly, his voice sounding less and less certain.

Slowly, everything came back into focus for Kate. Time was getting along and Tony needed an answer. The only thing was she had no idea what to say.

She shook her head gently. "I don't know."

Tony dropped Kate's hands and looked down, a frown creasing his forehead. She breathed in sharply and blinked back the tears had sprung to her eyes from the sight of his pain.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I love you – so much – but this is just so unexpected. We've never discussed this."

"We never discussed having a baby, either," he said, somewhat harshly. "_That _was unexpected."

"It was," she agreed, trying to ignore the sting of his comment.

He was defeated. He didn't have the energy for a comeback or to think up another comment. He'd asked the question he never thought he would – three times, in fact; he'd sacrificed his pride. And now, all he wanted to do was leave the room to wallow alone in self-pity so he'd be able to put on a brave face in the morning.

"I didn't say no, Tony," she said, as he started to walk out the room. "But I didn't say yes. I just need some time to think about it. Can I have that, please?"

He gave a nod and walked over to the door. "Goodnight, Kate."

"Goodnight, Tony," she whispered.

* * *

She cried when he left. Not for the answer she'd given him – she couldn't have said anything else – but for the look on his face. For the pain she had clearly caused him.

She clutched on to a pillow, hugging it tightly against her as she wondered what he was doing right now. She loved him, there was no doubt about that, but marriage was such a huge thing to commit to. No matter how much she loved him, she needed to think about this for longer than several seconds before she could truly make up her mind.

And lying beneath this truth was a little nagging voice in her that wouldn't let up, incessantly raising the possibility that the proposal was so spontaneous, Tony might wake up to regret it. This was something they both needed to think more about. And yet a part of Kate was scared of what Tony would uncover if he thought more about them marrying, because this little voice had a darker undertone that haunted and mocked her: why would _he _want to marry _her_?

* * *

Tony couldn't go to bed. He couldn't stay still. He paced the room, trying but failing to forget about what had just happened. Because he _couldn't _have asked Kate to marry him. And he _couldn't _have been given a "maybe" in response, when she finally got around to answering him.

Oh, but he did.

And he was.

As unreal as the whole thing felt, it had happened. And as unexpected as him proposing to someone – _any_one – was, he was as far from regretting his decision as it was possible to be.

He wanted to marry Kate. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He'd never felt so certain of anything in his life. And sure, he'd only decided this less than an hour ago but he was willing to bet this certainty was here to stay.

The only problem was that his certainty was not shared. While she hadn't said no, she hadn't said yes, either. Maybe it was just the surprise of the whole thing and once that wore off, he'd get his yes. But he couldn't help but be a bit thrown by her answer. As a firm believer in the whole "when you know, you _know_" idea, he began to wonder what this meant for them. Did she not feel as strongly for him as he did for her? Did he even see this relationship as one that could result in marriage?

If she didn't just know, like he did, did that mean their relationship was doomed?

He stopped at the window and peered out into the dark night. The ground was dusted with light patches of snow but as Tony looked up at the sky, he realised it was no longer falling.

* * *

"It's icy today," Mrs Todd said at breakfast the next morning. "You be careful travelling." She threw a glare at Tony, clearly telling him that if anything happened, she would hold him responsible.

"Of course," he said, throwing her a smile.

Her frown deepened and Tony quickly cast his attention back to his plate, wondering what he had done wrong this time.

Kate looked across at Tony, searching his face for evidence as to how he was. There was nothing. She'd walked downstairs this morning to find Tony and her parents seated at the table, where he'd greeted her with a polite "good morning" and a smile that didn't seem to reach his eyes. Ever since then, he'd been completely focused on eating his breakfast. She'd only seen his eyes leave his plate when he served himself some food or talked to her mother. Moments stretched on forever, as she waited for him to look at her, make some form of contact with her and she desperately wished they'd left already. All she wanted was to be away from the interference of her parents and able to talk to him about what had happened last night.

"You've hardly touched your food, Caitlin."

Kate quickly looked across at her mother, who seemed to be studying her face and Kate got the sinking feeling that her mother knew something was wrong. She always did. Ever since she was a child, Kate had tried to hide her hurt and sadness from her mother and even when she felt successful at it, her mother would always pick up on some gesture, look or word from Kate that would blow her cover. Just for once – just _this _once – Kate wished she could somehow fool her mother into believing everything was okay.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"I'm just a bit tired," she said as nonchalantly as she could, desperate to get her mother's probing gaze off her. "Could you pass the orange juice, please?"

Tony handed her the juice with a smile – another one that had something missing. She returned the smile, willing to bet her own smile was like Tony's and she wondered if he would realise that. If he could tell that she was also worried and upset after last night.

She made a half-hearted attempt of eating her breakfast but each mouthful was a struggle. All she wanted to do was get out of this house and fix things up.

While her father engaged Tony in a conversation about something – sports? Scotch? God only knew – her mother was chatting away about the baby. Most of the conversation was one sided – her mother telling her about what brands to use, tips to try and whatnot – which suited Kate. All she had to do was listen to her mother bossing her around.

Things, however, became less one-sided when her mother started nagging her about things to do before the baby arrived.

"Have you decided on where the baby's bedroom will be, yet? You'll move out, of course – won't you? I don't imagine there's enough space in that apartment of yours."

"I haven't planned that yet."

Her mother let out a sigh as her brow furrowed into a frown. "Look, Caitlin, I know six months _sounds _like a lot of time but it really isn't. You _must_ get a start on this now. What's your place like, Tony? Is there space for a baby?"

Tony broke off mid-sentence in his conversation and looked over. "I don't know," he said cautiously. "Kate and I haven't really – "

"Planned any of this, I know," Mrs Todd finished for him. "I was just telling her it's about time you did. Half a year will go by in a flash, believe me."

"We'll get right on it, then," Tony said, hoping she'd let the topic rest.

She opened her mouth to launch into another lecture and Mr Todd, noticing his daughter's mouth setting into something like a grimace and Tony's grip on his fork tightening, jumped in. "Did you know," he said, "I came downstairs for a nightcap last night and it was snowing."

Tony and Kate glanced at each other, the first time their eyes had really met all morning. Neither of them smiled but neither of them seemed in a great rush to look away and Kate was longing to reach across the table and take his hand, to further this contact. Both of them were stuck in that moment from last night, as they'd watched the snow fall. Right before everything had changed.

"Obviously, there wasn't much since there was nothing left this morning," Mr Todd continued. "But it was very nice sitting in that chair with a Scotch and watching the snow fall."

And then, just as abruptly, the moment ended. Tony looked away, setting his knife and fork down on his empty plate, announcing he had to finish packing before he fled from the room.

Mrs Todd stared after him and, once his footsteps had died away, turned to her daughter.

"What happened?"

"Nothing," Kate lied, quickly turning to her father. "What are your plans for today, Dad?"

"Caitlin," her mother said, taking Kate's hand. "I have spent this morning watching the both of you being miserable and looking at each other when you think the other's not watching. Don't tell me it's nothing."

"This is between Tony and me," Kate said, shaking her hand free. "It's none of your business."

"It is when it happens under my roof. And it is when it makes my daughter unhappy."

"Caitlin's right," Mr Todd said. "This is for her and Tony to deal with."

"Tell me Kate," Mrs Todd said, ignoring her husband, "is Tony worth it? Is your relationship worth this misery?"

"It's just a disagreement!" Kate cried, trying to ignore the anger rising in her. "Every couple has them."

Mrs Todd gave a small sigh before cautiously continuing. "I'm still not convinced about Tony. I do not think he is worthy of you."

"He is," Kate said instantly, getting up out of her chair. "He is worth it, this relationship is worth it and if you had just given him a _real _chance, maybe you would have seen that."

She walked quickly out of the room and stormed up the stairs, her mother's words going round and round in her mind. The hallway felt like it was closing in on her and she swore she could feel her mother's disapproval weighing down on her from every corner of the house. She had to get out.

She burst into Tony's room and found him standing next to the window, turning around to see who the intruder was.

"Let's go," Kate said firmly, before walking to her room and grabbing her bags.

* * *

In the end, the trip back wasn't the opportunity to talk about the previous night Kate thought it would be. They travelled in silence, Kate alternating between fury over her mother's refusal to accept Tony and concern over what the previous night meant for her and Tony's relationship, while Tony seemed to be lost in his own world, too. They barely talked and, before she knew it, Kate was back in her place, shutting the door behind her as Tony drove to his own home.

A part of her wanted to grab her keys and run after Tony but she didn't. They probably needed a night off, time to be alone and calm down a bit. So she ran a bath and spent the night aimlessly channel surfing, wishing with all her might that he was there with her.

* * *

Tony was hardly out of bed the next morning when he heard his front door open. And, to be honest, he couldn't remember the last sound he was this happy to hear. He'd missed Kate like crazy and lost count of the number of times he'd talked himself out of going to her place. Even now, he had to stop himself from racing over to her and instead settle for walking quickly.

She was making her way to the kitchen when he saw her, a grocery bag in her hand. She stopped in her tracks and looked at him, giving him a half smile. He wanted to race over and take her in his arms but something held him back; an awkwardness that was still lingering after his proposal.

"I thought you'd still be asleep," she said. "I was going to make us pancakes for breakfast and wake you up with them. You know, like a peace offering."

"I could go back to bed and pretend to be asleep," he offered.

She shook her head and put the bag down. "We need to talk."

He nodded. "We do."

They seated themselves at his table and she looked across at him.

"I can't give you an answer right now but I think you need an explanation. I don't like the way things are at the moment and I want to fix this up."

"Me too," he agreed.

"I meant what I said before. I do love you, so much. It's just that marriage is a _huge _step. It took me completely by surprise. We'd never talked about getting married and we haven't been together that long. I just feel like I need more time to think about it before I commit to such a big thing."

"Okay," he said, reaching across and taking her hand.

"I really do love you, Tony," she said, squeezing his hand. "And the last thing I want is for you to doubt that. You don't know how much you've brought to my life. How happy you've made me in these past few months. And I'm terrified of losing that."

"You won't," he promised her. "I can't imagine my life without you, Kate. I didn't plan on proposing. It just…everything seemed right and I just _knew_. It seemed right and it still seems right to me."

She leaned forwards and kissed him, cupping his face with her spare hand and stroking his cheek. "I admire that about you. When you know, you just know. I need to weigh up all the options. Sometimes I wish that I could have your certainty with everything. But I don't."

"We're a good mix that way. Maybe I help you live in the moment a bit more. And you make me stop and think when I need to."

She smiled and kissed him again. "I missed you. I know it wasn't all that long, but I missed you. A lot."

"I missed you, too."

"So, are we okay? Even if I need some time to think about this?"

"I can wait," he told her. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'll get a 'yes' eventually."

He winked at her, flashing his most charming smile and she couldn't help but laugh. It felt like the biggest weight had been taken off her shoulders, as if everything _might _be okay. That Tony may very well just stick around.

"I'm glad you're back," she told him, tapping his nose with her finger.

He smiled, squeezing her hand. "Did I hear you say something before about pancakes?"

"Everything we need is in that bag," she said, gesturing to the bag on the floor.

He pulled her to her feet and picked up the bag, leading her into the kitchen. "Let's make them."

"_You're _going to help me cook?"

"What, you think I can't cook?"

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'd take that back, if I were you."

"Or else what?" she asked, taking a step towards him.

"Or else you're going to have to wait longer for the pancakes."

"Tony," Kate said seriously, "you cannot cook."

"Right. That's it," he said, before scooping her up in his arms and carrying her to his bedroom.

* * *

The gel felt sticky on her stomach. She wanted to run to the bathroom. But the screen on one side of her and Tony on the other held her back. It was only a routine three-month ultrasound but that didn't stop the butterflies in her stomach and the dryness in her throat. What if everything wasn't okay? What if something was wrong with the baby?

She looked across at Tony and he shot her a reassuring smile. He'd been annoyingly calm from the moment they got in the car to come here – the time when her nerves had started. In his mind, nothing could possibly be wrong. Once again, she found herself wishing she had his certainty. Or was it idealism, more than anything else?

She looked back at the screen as she felt the contraption press down on her stomach. Was the screen meant to be blank still, several moments in?

And then, all of a sudden, something was there. A flicker of movement. Then another. It kept going, like the fluttering of a butterfly wing and somewhere, she heard herself being told she was looking at the baby's legs and lower body. _Her and Tony's _baby.

Soon, the whole body was on the screen. Legs that wouldn't stop moving. Arms that waved about occasionally. A head. Everything was so little. Everything was so perfect.

"Is the baby healthy?" she asked, releasing a breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding.

"Everything seems right on track."

A steady beating filled the room and Kate looked across at the woman conducting the ultrasound.

"Your baby's heartbeat," she said, giving her a smile.

She blamed her pregnancy hormones for the tears filling her eyes. She'd always been strong but there was something overwhelming about this moment that she couldn't fight. It was definitely the pregnancy hormones. At least, that's what she'd tell herself.

She looked across at Tony, who grasped her hand and smiled at her. His look was full of amazement and excitement. And all of a sudden, everything felt more real and tangible to her than ever before. She was loved by this man. And this baby – the baby on the screen – was somehow _theirs_. It was really happening.

Smiling back at him, she found a tear escaping that he lovingly wiped away before she turned her gaze back to the screen, her hand still securely enveloped in his.

* * *

**Since it is three hours until my twenty-first birthday begins (here in Australia, anyway), I decided I should probably compile a wish list for the lovely readers of this story to consult. I've already received a message from Sasha Alexander on twitter (! It was how I started my birthday eve and I pretty much died of excitement before retweeting it and then announcing the news to my grandmother. Seriously) so that can be crossed of the list.**

**SO for my twenty-first, I would like the following: **

**a) Michael Weatherly,**

**b) Tony DiNozzo,**

**c) Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn as my best friends,**

**d) Grace Kelly or Michelle Pfeiffer's face,**

**e) Ruthie Henshall's voice AND/OR **

**f) Reviews!**

**(Pretty, pretty please with a smiley face?)**

**:)**


	10. Reality Beckons

**Oh. My. Stars. A whole half year between updates. I am so sorry! Life has been crazily busy this year (in a good way, of course) and time just kept getting away from me.**

**Also, I felt this story didn't really have much direction – I sort of felt I was making it up as I went along. So I sat down one day and planned out the rest of this story, which means I actually know where I'm heading now! I had a rough idea, of course, but now I actually know exactly what's going to happen. Let's see if that speeds updates up at all and stops Kate from being pregnant for eternity.**

**Finally: thank you all for the fantastic response to the last chapter and the birthday wishes! I hope you're all still around and interested in this story because writing this chapter reminded me how much I enjoy writing Tate stories.**

* * *

It seemed to happen suddenly. One day, she was comfortably wearing her normal clothes. The next, she was struggling to do up the zip on her skirt.

"Tony!" she called out, grateful he'd spent the night so she didn't have to go through this alone.

"What is it?" he asked, walking into the room, although the sight of Kate waging a war with her skirt gave him a pretty good idea.

"It won't fit," she pouted. "There must be something wrong with it – all of my other clothes fit. You try it."

"When was the last time you wore this?" he asked cautiously, walking up to her.

Kate shrugged. "I don't know. A week ago? A fortnight?"

Tony cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out the best way to tell Kate that the skirt probably wouldn't fit her for quite awhile now. Before he could work something out, Kate gave an impatient sigh and snapped. "Can't you just do it up? Please?"

Taking the zip in his hands, Tony stared down at the two pieces of fabric that had no chance of joining together.

"Aren't you going to try?"

"Well, what if..." Tony paused, wondering whether he should state his fear. "What if I squash the baby?"

"What?" Kate asked, turning around to face him.

"What if I squash the baby?" Tony repeated. He didn't know if it was possible but he knew that if the skirt _did _get zipped up somehow, it would be a big squish.

"You won't squash the baby by doing up a zip, Tony!" Kate cried in exasperation.

He let go of the zip and took a step back. Time to state the facts as plainly and simply as he could.

"It's not going to do up, Kate."

He expected her frustration to grow with that comment. For her to yell at him or something. Instead, she released a breath and it seemed her whole body deflated in defeat.

Sitting herself down on the edge of the bed, she looked up at Tony with sad eyes. "It's not going to fit," she conceded.

"But isn't that a good thing?" he asked, sitting next to her and taking her hand. "Don't you think it's exciting to see the baby growing?"

"It's not that," Kate said softly, shaking her head.

"Then what is it?"

"It's my grandmother," she began.

Oh, God. The miraculous grandmother again. Tony fought the urge to roll his eyes and tried to focus on being sympathetic instead.

"She was tiny. She said she didn't start showing until she was five months pregnant. I'm only four! I'm going to be huge and then my body will never be the same and, for all I know, I'll never be able to wear this skirt again!"

Kate stared at Tony, blinking back tears, and he pulled her into a hug, sighing. This grandmother was either, as Tony had said before, a freak of nature or a spectacular liar. Either way, she'd fed Kate these insecurities which, combined with her pregnancy hormones, led to a messy result.

"I'm sure that won't happen," he tried to reassure her. "Maybe your grandmother was exaggerating anyway."

"I doubt it," Kate mumbled, pulling out of the hug and getting up. "Anyway, I need to find something to wear or we'll be late for work."

She motioned for Tony to leave the room and waited until she heard the door shut behind him to pull off the skirt and throw it into the very back of her cupboard.

* * *

"How's my favourite desk-bound agent?" Abby cheerfully asked later that day, sitting on the edge of Kate's desk.

"Bored," she answered instantly.

"Until now! There's no way you can be bored when I'm here."

Kate leaned back in her chair, stifling the yawn that always came with the mid-afternoon slump and Abby's eyes popped open in surprise.

"Oh my God, it's a bump!" she squealed in delight.

Kate shot upright in chair. "Sh!" she hissed.

"Oh come on, there's no one here. And it's not like you can keep this from people forever."

Kate tried to think of something to respond with but before she had the chance, Abby had grabbed her hand and pulled her up to examine the bump again.

"It's so little!" she exclaimed. "And so exciting! Why are you hiding it? You should be showing it off. Wait – have you even _bought _any maternity clothes yet?"

Kate gave a sheepish look, about to respond, before Abby cut her off.

"Kate! You haven't, have you?"

"_Some _of my clothes still fit," she said defensively.

Abby shook her head solemnly. "Kate," she said seriously, "we're going shopping."

* * *

"Tony! We've been through this already. Kate needs more maternity clothes than maternity underwear."

"And I've told you that's nonsense. She doesn't have to wear a skirt every day or a dress every day but she _does _have to wear underwear every day."

"Just put them back!"

"Not until you've put back that goth-inspired jumpsuit."

Kate burrowed further into the corner of her change room. The upside was that she'd managed to put off shopping with Abby until the weekend.

The downside was that Tony had insisted on coming, too, so she was there with possibly the two least helpful people in the world.

A black t-shirt with skulls was proffered over the curtain to Kate's change room.

"Try this on, Kate!" came Abby's voice. "It's so cute!"

Kate hesitated, making no move to take the top. "I don't think it's really..._me_, Abby."

She heard a sigh before the clothing swiftly disappeared.

A moment later, a head and an armful of underwear poked through the curtain as Kate was pulling on a dress she'd selected.

"Okay. She's gone. For the moment, anyway. Try these on!" came Tony's voice, making Kate jump.

"Tony!"

"What? It's nothing I haven't seen before. And the dress was pretty much on. Just try these on!"

Kate looked down at his armful of underwear and briefly closed her eyes.

"Quick – take them before she gets back."

Kate looked at his selection again. There _were _some things that were nice, actually. And it _was _an essential part of her maternity wardrobe. She quickly grabbed the items and Tony's face broke into a smile.

"That's my girl!" he said gleefully, before stepping out and pulling the curtain shut behind him.

* * *

Kate woke with a start, suppressing a groan at having her sleep disturbed. Tony snored softly beside her and she opened her eyes, accepting that sleep wasn't about to return.

It took her a moment to realise where she was. The red glow of the clock on the bedside table and the slightly rougher feeling sheets were tip-offs that she wasn't at her place. She didn't often spend the night at Tony's – somehow, it had worked out so they virtually always stayed over at her place.

She was wide awake now but she still closed her eyes and pulled the covers up over her in a vain attempt to go back to sleep. It didn't work. The longer she tried to go to sleep, the more she realised it couldn't happen: she was thirsty and hungry. Sleep wouldn't come until those needs had been taken care of.

She slipped out of the room as quietly as she could, careful not to wake Tony up, and made her way to the kitchen.

One of the things that had surprised her about Tony's place was that it actually wasn't that shabby. Before they'd got together, she'd conjured up visions of dishes that hadn't been washed for days, magazines piled up next to the toilet. And she had happily been proved wrong.

She was reminded of this fact as she fumbled about in his kitchen, trying to find everything she needed in the well-stocked fridge and the drawers filled with utensils. As much as she hated to admit it, his place was possibly even better equipped than hers.

It was certainly bigger than hers, Kate admitted as she wandered into the living room, waiting for her toast to cook. Her eyes scanned the space and before she knew what she was doing, she was envisioning kids' toys strewn about the room. Possibly even a bouncer in that corner.

Opening the adjoining door to his spare room, the fantasy continued. It was the perfect size for a baby's room – better than her shoebox excuse of a spare room, anyway. A crib could fit right there, with room for a change table and maybe even a chair to nurse the baby to sleep on. She could almost see the baby in her arms, swaddled in blankets, and Tony, somewhere close by.

The sound of the toast popping up brought Kate back to reality and back to the kitchen but she couldn't shake the image of living here as a little family, with Tony and the baby, from her mind.

It just seemed _right_.

Getting back into bed several minutes later, she couldn't help but cuddle up to Tony, nestling her face in his chest.

"Kate?" he mumbled sleepily. "What is it?"

"Nothing," she whispered.

Except for the first time, she could see herself – _really _see herself – as Kate DiNozzo.

* * *

That moment at Tony's wasn't enough to make Kate give him an answer of yes. But it _was _enough to make that one word form on the tip of her tongue. She just couldn't get it out until her mind had been settled further – until she found out just that bit more.

The cold weather didn't stop kids from coming out and playing in the park. Kate looked across at the playground, holding Tony's hand as they walked through the park. He stopped walking and followed her gaze.

"Hard to imagine we'll have a baby in five months, isn't it?" she asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her against him.

"You know," Tony said, looking over at a girl with pigtails on the slippery dip, "I had a dream we had a girl the other night."

He continued looking over until he felt her body shaking with silent laughter. "What?" he asked.

"Ever since we went to my parents', I've been feeling the baby's a boy."

"It's a girl," Tony said with great certainty. "I'm sure you only think it's a boy now because you want to prove your mother wrong and follow the family tradition."

Kate shook her head. "It's a boy."

"Well, it's not too long until we end this and find out what the baby is."

"You want to find out the gender?" she asked, turning around to face him.

"Don't you?"

"I thought it would be nice to have a delivery surprise."

"I thought you'd want to be able to plan everything."

"We don't need to know what the baby is to be able to plan everything."

"Yeah, but don't you think it would be nice to know?" Tony asked.

"I'd rather wait until the baby's born to find out."

Kate looked across at the playground again, a frown forming on her face.

"What is it?"

"How many kids do you want, Tony?" she asked, turning back to look him directly in the eyes.

"I don't know," he said with a shrug. "Four?"

Kate's eyebrows shot up and he immediately changed his answer. "Maybe three?"

He noted with relief that her eyebrows had almost returned to their normal height.

"How many do you want?" he asked her.

"Two," she answered immediately.

It was Tony's turn to frown. "I thought that since you came from a big family, you'd want a big family."

Kate shook her head. "Mum did a good job raising all of us but she didn't work. I want to keep working. And even though she did a good job, I still often felt like she didn't have much time for me. I don't want my kids to feel that way."

"Oh."

"And you want three or four."

"I just thought it would be nice to have a big family. But anyway, who knows? Maybe one baby will be enough for us. Or maybe we'll end up having a football team. I guess we won't know until this one's born."

"I suppose."

She took his hand and continued walking through the park, making their way back to her place. They walked the last part quickly, to avoid the cold, and happily shrugged out of their coat and jacket once they were back in the warmth of Kate's apartment.

"Okay, what is it?" he asked, almost as soon as they got back in.

"What?"

He walked close to her, sliding his arms around her waist. "You've been quiet ever since we had that talk about kids."

She bit her lip, frowning again. "Doesn't it bother you that we can't agree on anything?"

"What? We can't agree on the gender of the baby, or how many kids we should have but we both agree we want kids?"

She released her lip, considering what he'd just said.

"Call me crazy, Kate, but I don't think we're disagreeing on the most important things."

"You're right," she said, sounding almost surprised.

"Of course I am," he said, before giving her a kiss.

She draped her arms around his neck and looked at him carefully. "And you really think you want to marry me?"

"I _know_ I want to marry you, Kate."

"Once I get married, Tony, that's it. I'm only doing it once – divorce is not an option for me. Would you be okay with that?"

He nodded. "I won't leave you. Marriage wouldn't be some temporary thing for me."

"Good," she said with a smile.

"Does that mean I'm getting a 'yes' to my proposal now?"

"It means I'm thinking about it very, very carefully."

Tony smiled. "Well, that's one step closer to a 'yes'," he said, before kissing her again.

* * *

At first, she thought she imagined it.

She was sitting at her desk, in the midst of some paperwork, when she could swear she felt the baby move.

Stopping what she was doing, she sat completely still. It had been so gentle – it hadn't felt like much more than a fluttering sensation – that seconds later, as she was waiting for a repeat performance, she convinced herself it had been in her mind.

Even so, she waited another minute or so just in case it _had _been real before she returned to her work.

Almost as soon as she settled back into her work, her face broke into a smile: there it was again, the fluttering feeling. The baby moving. It _hadn't_ been her imagination.

She was completely distracted now. Her hand reached for the phone, toying with the idea of calling Tony but she knew she couldn't: he was out with Gibbs and McGee. And the fact that she wanted him to be the first to know was the only thing stopping her from running to Abby's lab.

She was glad to hear someone walking towards her, just to have an excuse not to have to focus on the damn paperwork. She looked up to see who her saviour was, smiling as she saw McGee.

He didn't return the smile. He hurried over to her, his face pale, and her smile disappeared from her face as she felt concern creep into her.

"Kate, you've got to come with me."

She looked up at him, her blood turning to ice. "What is it?" she asked in a whisper. "Is it Gibbs?"

He shook his head and she noticed his whole body was shaking as her heart dropped somewhere around her feet.

"It's Tony."

* * *

**What happened to Tony?**

**Did he die?**

**Did he get seriously injured?**

**Did he decide to drop out of society to live as a unicorn, as per the facebook group?**

**Will I have mercy on the souls of Tate lovers?**

**Will Tate lovers forgive me for having to wait so long between updates?**

**Let me know, and:**

**REVIEW!**

**(Pretty please.)**


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